Shelter The Sequel: Arigato
by BlackCrossover2108
Summary: Porter Robinson & Madeon - Shelter. Rin, a 17-year-old girl. Every day she wakes up in the same world, doing the same things over and over. Until one day, everything changes, and Rin comes to learn the true origins behind her life inside a simulation... little did she know that after learning about her past, her future was going to change forever.
1. The Countdown

**A/N Shelter! Shelter as in Shelter the short anime film. Anyways, this is a TWO-SHOT that's about Rin from Shelter and a lot of other anime. You don't have to watch all these animes in order to understand this story and there won't be any spoliers. If you've watched the Short Anime film called "Shelter" sang by Porter Robinson & Madeon then you should be able to understand this story since is mostly focused on Rin's POV, although sometimes it will move to Third Person's POV. If you haven't seen Shelter, I highly suggest you do, It's only 6 minutes and trust me it's so worth your time.**

 **For those who are asking, why this is a Sword Art Online crossover? People who are using phones will not be able to see it but you should take a look at the cover image of this story.**

 **I was inspired to write this because I just loved "Shelter". It was just so good. The ending was so sad and heart warming. I decided to write a fanfic about it, giving Rin a happy ending because it definitely deserves one. This story takes place right after Rin receives the message. I do warn you, the plot may not be that good though. I'm really bad when it comes to thinking about a plot. This story may not be as sad and heart-warming as the original video, I just really wanted give an happy ending. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and I hope I don't disappoint you (Probably will though)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own "Shelter" or any other Anime that is involved in this Story.**

* * *

*You have 1 new message*

The number one appeared on the top left hand corner of the message icon. I slowly placed my index finger and tapped it. A screen appeared on the top of the tablet showing a series of words. A message. The message reads.

* * *

To: Rin

From: Dad

There was just so little time left after you were born. I don't know how much love I managed to pour into raising you after your mother died, but your smile kept me going. I would have liked to come with you but I couldn't. I want you to forget everything and move on. I knew you'd be alright. But you'll get lonely and remember I know you'll always grow strong and read this letter someday. I really wish we could have spent more time together. I'm sorry. you were so young back then, too young to understand what they meant. So let me repeat my final words to you.

* * *

"Even if those memories make me sad,"

"I've got to go forward, believing in the future."

"Even when I realise my loneliness,"

"and am about to lose all hope,"

"those memories make me stronger."

Everything that was dark around her suddenly turned into bright skies. She laid down on a patch of grass sitting on her knees, Crying.

"I'm not along..."

"Because of you."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Arigato"

* * *

Rin's Room

I slowly opened her eyes. I found myself in my bedroom again. Everything was the same, nothing changed. Nothing will ever change. But even then, the day continues on. This world, the world I live in and own. I looked at the ceiling and asked myself a question that I hasn't asked in a while.

What will become of me from now on?

It's been a while since I thought about that. Maybe... it was because I forgot how to think at all. I stood up from my bed and check my tablet like how I would everyday.

*No messages since yesterday*

I sigh. But I'm not lonely. I'll never be lonely. It doesn't bother me at all. It'll never bother me, no matter how long it'll be. I'm not alone... thanks to you.

I take in a deep breath... and begin the day.

I stood up in my room as the wall start to disappear into pixels until the room was just a glass box with black borders. The furniture including the bed was still there. I sat back on the bed, took the tablet, pressed the button I would press everyday. As I pressed the button, a holographic pen appeared. I placed my hand over my chin and think about what I should draw today.

I should start with a... mountain. I place the pen on the tablet and start drawing. As I draw I can feel the mountain creating itself behind me. I decide the mountain should look weird today, the mountain would stand on only one pillar for support and there would be random pieces of rocks pointing in random direction. I turn around and looked at my creation.

There's something missing

Should it be brown? Mountains are brown and made out of rocks right? I shrug off that thought and tried to search for an idea. How about blue?

I rubbed out the colour of the mountain. As I do this, the strange looking mountain's colour started to deplete and now it was just plain white. I change the colour of the pen and started colouring the mountain. When I'm done, I look up and see my creation. Okay now it's just looks too weird. I laugh at myself, I want to create something unique and interesting but this was just odd. I quickly delete the mountain.

What should the background be? Maybe... a forest. I place my pen back on the tablet and star drawing again. I feel the terrain creating itself around me and I can almost smell the trees around me. Of course, I can't actually smell anything nor can I feel anything. I wonder why? I remember asking myself that once, but I quickly shrugged the question off because... you know.

Anyways, what should I add to this forest. Maybe... a mountain. Do mountains exist in forest? Who knows. I'll try and see what it looks like. I place my pen on the tablet once again and start drawing. A mountain forms itself in the middle of the water. I place a hole inside the mountain and draw something inside the mountain. Suddenly, water sprouted out of the hole that was created, making a waterfall. It looked pretty. But maybe it should be a little over to the right. I placed my pen onto the mountain and dragged the picture a little to the right.

As I do this. The mountain picked itself up and moved over the right. Perfect. Next I should add rivers. I draw a couple of rivers over here and over there. It's funny, I couldn't feel anything nor could I smell anything... but i could hear. I could hear the river's flowing water and the blankets rustling against the bed when I move. Isn't hearing one of the senses, there were five sense touch, hear, see, smell and taste. I couldn't taste anything, there wasn't really anything to taste anyways, I couldn't smell anything, I couldn't feel anything. But I could hear and see. Those were the five sense, I know that... Dad taught me.

Anyways, what else should I add? I get up from my bed and walk towards my creation.

* * *

Outside

In no time I'm inside a forest walking through the tall tress. Flowers, I should add flowers, it would make the place look more... more... I don't know, I just was to add flowers. I start drawing on my tablet, I drew yellow flowers, pink flowers and red flowers. I looked up from my tablet and looked. Ah, they looked so pretty when they were bunched up together like that.

Maybe I should add vines. Do trees have vines? Who knows. I try and see what it looks like. I draw green vines on the trees and look up to see what it looks like. Not bad... I wonder if I could swing on them. The tree branches were too high up, so I used a pillar of rock to lift me upwards.

I like being up high. I can see everything from high up here. The view would never get old.

I stepped on one of the branches, I grabbed a vine with my right arm and hold my tablet in my left arm. I slowly take a step forward. My feet let go of the tree branch and I start to swing through the trees. As I swing through the forest I get this feeling. I couldn't find the word to explain, it felt... I don't know.

Suddenly my hand slips off the vine and I start falling. Maybe it was because I held the vine with only one hand. I fell from the vine and landed gently on the grass. I didn't feel anything, it was like I was landed on nothing.

I get up and look back at my tablet. Okay... let's make things more interesting. I could create trees with no leaves and they would have glowing cube things on the branches... wait I already did that. Did I? Hard to tell. I think I have done that before.

...

What if... everything was made out of blocks. The trunks of the trees, the leaves, the mountain, the ground... what if all that was made out of blocks. I place my pen on the tablet again and start editing on my work.

Everything around me starts changing around me. Just like how I imagine, everything turned into blocks. It looked cool, it looked better then I expected it to be. The look at the trees around me. The trunks of the trees were now in straight lines and the leaves of the trees were bunched up together into blocks of leaves. I looked at the mountain, the mountain was all blocky but other then that it looked pretty much the same. The water was still flowing but in a blocky way. Blocky was the only word I could find.

I explore my new creation. I wonder if I could make the blocks float in mid air. I place my pen on the tablet and place two brown blocks on top of each other. I remove the block on the bottom and sure enough, the second block floating. I climb onto the floating block and sat on it, thinking about what I should do next.

I yawned. Was it time to sleep already. Maybe I was just tired. Who knows, Sometimes these days would go by like seconds. I don't it really mattered when I slept. I usually slept when I felt like it. Maybe I should start heading back.

Then, I saw... "It". It was some sort of block. It was hard to explain what the block looked like. It was an orange colour with a diamond pattern to it. On each side of the block was a white square panel with nine different lights (A Command Block).

I looked back at my tablet. I didn't put that there... Out of curiosity, I slowly walk towards the mysterious block. The more closer I walked the more it looked... odd. I'm right in front of the block now. It's floating. Should I touch it? What's the worse that could happen? I slowly reached my hand towards the block... and touched it.

Suddenly, images flashed through my line of vision. Images I didn't recognised nor can described. Hundreds images flashed through my mind... but only one image made sense to me. I saw the number **7**.

* * *

Rin's Room

My eyes flew open. I was in my bed, my room. Everything was the same... nothing changed. At this point, I'm completely confuse, this has never happened before. I don't remember going back to bed yesterday. Or was it still today? I lay on my bed, thinking about what just happened. Ever since I got that message from my dad I've been thinking a lot more then I usually do.

I remember my tablet. I quickly searched my bed and was relieved to find in under the blankets. I open the tablet and check my message

*No messages in 2 days*

So it really was the next day. It's strange, I didn't remember going to bed yesterday. Something seemed...different which was weird since everyday was suppose to be the same. I would wake up bed with no one around. Just me in my room. I turned my head to the right and hugged my pillow

It was odd. I couldn't really feel anything but there were small things I could feel. Like my bed, Every time I was on my bed feeling my giant pillow. I felt something, I felt... comfortable or something like that.

I let out a big yawn. All this thinking was making my mind hurt. Maybe I need a bath. Yeah, maybe that's what I need. I need to relax for a moment. I go the settings on the tablet and changed the room into a bathroom like what I would always do.

The bath was already prepared for me, I could see the steam coming from the hot water. I remove my clothes and neatly folded them, placing them on one of the bathroom counter. While still holding my tablet, I entered the bath. Again it was odd, Like my bed and pillow, I could physically feel the hot water against my skin. It felt... relaxing. It was like, everything inside this box was specially designed... for me.

As I bath in the nice relaxing hot water. I stare at my tablet thinking about what happened yesterday. Half of the screen was underwater, only the top bit was visible. But I wasn't really focusing on it. I mind was mostly thinking about yesterday. It was exactly like when she recieve that message from her father, but something about this seemed different.

I decided to ignore what happened since I probably wasn't going to get an answer. The more I think about it, the more I'll be curious.

After who knows how long. I jump out of the bath, dry myself, put my clothes back on, change the settings of the room and took out my stylus.

What should I make today? Hmm... I made a forest yesterday... how about a desert? I place the stylus on the tablet and start drawing. I draw what I think a desert looks like. Sand everywhere. Mountains made out of... Rocks or Sand? I think it's sand.

As I draw, the desert forms itself around me. Of course it wasn't a surprise to me since I've seen it millions of times. What do deserts have? Cactus? Do Cactus exist in desert, I think they do, it's hard to remember. Oh well then, I place my stylus on the tablet and start drawing green cactuses in my desert. I look up from my tablet to see whether it looks nice or not... I like it, the green goes good with the desert. What else?

I get up from my bed and head outside the box.

* * *

Outside

I walk through the desert and approach on the of cactus that I made. I touched it and felt nothing. Am my suppose to feel something? I'm pretty sure there was this feeling you were suppose to feel when you touch the spikes of a cactus... what was it again? I can't rememberer.

Anyways, what else should I do? What is there to add in a desert. Hmm... is sand always yellow? Maybe, I could change the colour of sand. I'll try that. I grabbed out my stylus and start colouring the sand different colours. Red over here, brown over there, A bit more red, pink all the way over there, Orange here, Gold there, a bit of purple and a bit of green over there. I look up from my tablet and I looked. It looked so pretty, so many colours, almost looks like a...a... what was that word again. You know, that word where lots of colours are combined together. Never mind.

I looked around and think about what I should do next. I want to think about something new, something I haven't thought off but it's hard to do that since I've kinda thought about almost everything by now. Hmm...How about rocks, not ordinary rocks...floating rocks. Yeah, giant pieces of rocks that would just float in the sky.

I place the stylus on the tablet once again and start drawing. I draw the rocks in all shapes and size. Some were small while others look big. Some looked normal while others looked wonky with edges pointing in random direction.

I look up from my tablet and look upwards to see what is looks like. Turned out better then I expected, it's cool having those random pieces of rocks in the air. It fills up the emptiness of the sky.

I decide to stop adding things and spend time on just exploring my creation. I forget to that sometimes, I focus so much on my creations that I forget to explore them. I walk around the landscape. My feet don't feel anything despite me not wearing shoes.

Everything was so pretty. The different colours of the sand, the sand mountains, and the floating rocks. If my eyes could sparkle they would've probably done it by now. It never gets old, no matter how many times I see it.

I start sprinting. I don't know why, I just felt like it. As I ran, I placed my stylus onto my tablet again. A giant pillar of rock appeared below me and lifted me into the air. I loved being in high places, I could see everything from up here. I make a couple more of pillars of rock, I start jumping from one to the other. This was one of my favourite things to do. I would fall down only to caught by another giant pillar of rock.

I lost balance on one of the pillars and fell off. I didn't care, I just let myself fall. as I fell, I felt the same feeling when I swung down the tress on vines. I couldn't described it though. I landed on one of the sand mountains, I roll down the mountain a couple of times before finally coming to a stop. I didn't feel anything though but I didn't care at this point... That was fun. For a moment, I just lay there admiring everything that was around. The things I created.

I yawn, I could feel myself getting tired. I wonder how long it's been? I could've stayed there, on that sand hill. I could've just slept there... but I preferred my bed. My smile turned into a sad sigh, I was once again reminded about the cold reality I live in. I would go to bed, only to wake up in the same place and do the same things. I would repeat this process the day after that... and the day after that. Everyday was the same.

I sigh. I stretched my arms before getting up. I started heading towards the box that laid in the middle of my creation. Then I saw it.

It was some sort of bed. A bed that could only fit one person. In the middle of the desert. (A Hospital Bed). There was a weird machine next to it, it had a black screen with a moving squiggly line through it and it went *Beep* ... *Beep* ... *Beep*... there were also other objects around the bed. Objects I have never seen before.

I looked at my tablet... I didn't put that there.

I hesitantly walk up to the mysterious bed. I stare at it for a moment. After a moment of just standing there, I slowly reached for the bed with my right hand... and touched it.

As soon as I did, images flashed through my line of vision. Like last time, I couldn't recognise nor could described any of the images that were being shown to me. As the images flashed through my vision one after the other, I feel multiple feeling at the same time. I felt, Happy, confuse, scared, and... grateful. Then, I saw... a girl. I wasn't given much time to look at her but from I could tell she had long purplish-black hair. Her eyes were closed and she held two fingers up making a V shape. She was... smiling, smiling happily at me . My vision begins to fade and the last thing I saw was the number **6**.

* * *

Rin's Room

My eyes flew open. It happened... again. Before I think of anything else, I quickly search for my tablet. When I find it, I open it and check my messages.

*No messages in 3 days*

I stand up from my bed tried to make sense of all this. What does this mean? Who was that girl? Why is this happening? ... the mysterious object was... different this time. Different. A word that I hardly use. Before it was a weird block, now it was some sort of bed.

I stare at the ceiling. Events like this usually happen once in a blue moon. But "It" happened twice in a row. I stand there...thinking, something I've been doing A LOT lately. After realising that standing there thinking about it wasn't going to get me answers, I lay back down on my bed and hug my giant pillow. I wanted to go back to sleep... but I couldn't, I kept thinking about it and I wasn't tired either.

So I lay there for who knows how long. After what seemed like an eternity, I get up from my bed. I need to stop thinking about it, I need to get my mind off all these confusing things. I let out a big sigh... and begin the day.

Once again, I stand in up as the room disappear into pixels until the room was just a glass box with black borders. The furniture including the bed was still there. I lay down on my bed and stare at my tablet.

I press one of the icon and a stylus magically appears in my hand. I put the stylus on my chin, look up and think about what I should make today. I should start small then work my way up. Let's start with... grass. I place my stylus on the tablet and start drawing, after I'm done I think about what I should put on top of the grass field.

That's when it hit me. I've never tried to make building before, have I? That message from my dad reminded me of what buildings look like but I've never made them.

I'm going to try.

I start with a cube. Then I add a door, a roof, windows, a chimney... I think that's it, what else to buildings have? What colour are they? Hmm... I'll colour the door brown, the chimney red, the frame for the windows will be white, the windows itself is obviously see through, the chimney will also be brown and I think the rest of the house orange.

When I complete my drawing, I look up and see what it looks like. It looks... plain.

I get up from my bed and walk towards the house to get a better look.

* * *

Outside

I walk up to the house until I'm at the door. I open the door and walk inside the house. As expected there's nothing inside it since I didn't put anything there.

I think about what furniture a house might have. A bed, a closet, a drawer... I start drawing again, I'll put the bed in the corner and a drawer next to it. The closer will be near the bed.

I look up from my tablet to see what it looks like. Hmm... could use a lot more things, it still looks empty. Now that I think about it, don't building have different rooms... yeah they do, a room for the bathroom, a room for the kitchen, a room where you have dinner.

I start drawing again. I draw more squares and boxes. Some were long while others were wide. Some boxes were small while others were big. I stayed with the same colours for now. After I finished drawing all that, I connect the different boxes together making the house bigger. There's way more room now. Let's see... the small one over there will be the bathroom, the room over here could be the living room and this room will be the dinner room. Where should the bedroom go? Wait, If I can remember it right. Don't some buildings have rooms on top of each other, like a second floor.

Maybe the bedroom could be on the second floor. I quickly return to my tablet and draw a second floor. After I'm done, I put the bedroom in one of the empty rooms.

So now the house has a Bathroom, A living room, A dinner room and a bedroom... what else do houses have. Oh yeah, they have those things on the outside of the house like gardens and backyards right?

I draw a couple flowers in the front of the house and a swing in the back of the house. I go the backyard and sit in the tree swing. I push myself on the swing as I think about what else a house might have... Maybe I could... make rooms up. I ran into the house and into one of the empty rooms.

This room could be... the toy room. I place my stylus on the tablet again and start drawing teddy bears, toy trains and toy cars. After that, I go to room to room adding random pieces of furniture. Tables, chairs, counters, windows, and made up things.

When I realised I was running out of room, I decided to make the house bigger. I add more rooms and more floors. I continue to create ideas and objects that I consider... interesting.

After finally finishing everything, I sit down on the couch and rest for a moment. That was fun, maybe later I could create hundreds of building right next to each other like a neighbourhood.

But now I think I'll just explore the house. I already knew what all the rooms looked like but I think enjoyed exploring them like it wasn't me who made the building. Sometimes I would look at one of the strange objects that I made and wonder why I made it. The house is brightly lit with many lights and there's furniture and things everywhere.

It was like going through a maze, I could go left or right or forward or backward or upstairs or downstairs.

I found one of the bedrooms. Each room was different. This room had a bed and another bed right above it. I thought, if you could put houses on top of each other, can't you pet beds on top of each. (Bunk bed). Theirs toys in the left corner of the room and a green drawer next to them. There was a strange cube like object next to the door, something I randomly made. There was a window near the bed that showed the green grass outside. A blue mat in the middle of the room and a poster of a mountain on one of the walls. Last of all, there was a pretty chandelier that brought light to the room.

I sat on the top bed and stare at the ceiling. The bed was nice but I preferred the other one better. Still, it was cool laying on a different bed for once. I yawned. I was getting tired already, time passes so quickly these days.

After a long moment of just laying there, I decided it was time to head back to my real bedroom. I get up from the bed and hit my head on the ceiling, I didn't feel anything though, but it was able to surprise me. Maybe that's why you don't put beds on top of each other.

I climbed down the double bed, take one last look at the bedroom before exiting into the long hallway. I look down the hallway, there's lots of doors, random made up things, windows, drawers, pathways that lead to other place of the house, stairs and even more random objects. But I didn't pay attention to any of that, I was mainly focus on the strange object and leaned against the wall right at the end of the hallway.

It was a small thin board. The top bit had black and white stripes while the rest of the board had numbers and words that I didn't understand. (A Clapperboard)

Did I put that there? Maybe I made it without even noticing. I look at my tablet and back at the strange object. I definitely didn't put that there.

I think about what happened in the last days and debate with myself whether I should go touch it or not. I decided to do it. I mean, the only thing it does is show me a couple of pictures and then it sends me back to bed. I was going to bed so might as well. Who knows, maybe I'll see that girl with the purple hair again.

I walk slowly towards the object. At first I just looked at it, observing the details. There were numbers and the words were way too long to understand. With my tablet in my left arm, I reached for the the strange object with my hand and touch it.

Just like last time, images flashed through Rin's mind. This time, the images were a bit clearer than last time. This time I saw stages, each stage had something different on it, one stage had a kitchen and another had a bedroom. But the one thing that stood out was all the cameras. Cameras everywhere, both big and small. There were wires and objects all over the place. I then realised that the images that were being shown to me weren't random, each image had something to do with the next one. One image after the other, my vision begins to fade and the last thing I saw was the number **5**

* * *

Rin's Room

I open my eyes. This time I'm more calm than last time. I slowly search for my tablet, taking my time. After I found it under the covers, I check my messages

*No messages in 4 days*

I sigh. I may not be smart but I know some things. First I saw 7, then I saw 6, and now 5. It was obvious by now what "it" is. It's a countdown. But counting down for what? What did all this mean? Did my dad plan this? What's going to happen when it reaches 0?

A dreadful thought hit me. What if it was counting down to my death? The number 5...Maybe the world is telling me that I only have five days left. Am I going to...die.

I shake my head. No, I'm not going to think about that. It's just a guess. My Dad would never let that happen. Who knows, maybe something magical will happen.

I stand up from my bed and stand in the middle of my room.

I needed an answer and I have a feeling that I'm going to get one once the countdown hits 0. All I need to do now is...

Begin the day.

The wall of my room start to disappear into pixels until the room was just a glass box with black borders. I look out the window and look at the empty void that surrounded my room.

I sit back at my bed and think about what I should make today. It's funny, before I would always take my time thinking about what to make. Now I feel a bit pressured and impatient. I wanted to know what happens when the countdown reaches 0.

I take a deep breath to calm myself down. What should I make to today. Hmm... a cave? Have I tried making a cave before, don't know I can't remember.

A cave will do. I take out my stylus and start drawing what I think a cave looks like. The cave forms itself. I looked out the window and only saw darkness. The only thing giving light was the box that had my room in it.

An idea pops up in my head and I start drawing again. I draw shiny icicles on the ceiling of the cave, each icicle gave light. Each icicle was a different colour. Purple, Pink, Green, Yellow, Etc.

I look up and look at all the colourful colours. All these colours combined together... it looks like a ra...what was that word? I can't remember. Anyways, what should I do with the floor. Hmm... how about... water. I could replace the ground with water and see what that looks like.

Once again I start drawing, replacing the entire ground with water. After I'm done, I look up from my tablet and look. Its so pretty. I like how the colourful light from the hanging incles reflect on the water. The reflection on the water looks so beautiful.

I then get an idea. I could create a boat. Yeah, that's what I'll do. After I draw, the boat appears just outside the box that contained my bedroom. The water was flat and calm. But after the small wooden boat appeared and landed, it sent tiny little waves across the water.

I get up from my bed and walk towards the boat

* * *

Outside

I step onto the boat. The boat wombles but I was able to maintain my balance.

As soon as I sit down, the boat starts moving by itself. Through the cave filled with colourful icicles. I put my hand in the water as the boat moves forward on water.

I take my hand out of the water and look at it. My hand looks wet but I can't feel it. Strange.

I shrugged off the question, I sit back and relax. The boat continues to move through as I look up at the icicles. I've been doing a lot of more thinking lately. Is it because of the countdown? It is because I actually have an goal? Or is it because of Dad?

None of it made sense. Nothing made sense honestly. I first woke up in this world with no memories... but then I remembered everything. I sigh and sit back up. I look ahead.

There's nothing. Just more water and more cave.

Hmm... what else should I create?

I take out my stylus and draw a piece of land in the middle of the water. Like a mini island. The boat nears the mini Island. I get out of the boat and and walked on the mini island I created.

It's just a big piece of rock in the middle of water. I place my stylus back on my tablet drawing grass making the surface of the mini island... feel softer. It's stranger, I can feel somethings yet I can't other things.

Anyways, what else should I add... a tree. I could add a tree. A tree in the middle of a mini island, in the middle of water. Maybe it'll look nice.

I draw a tree in the middle of the island. It's a normal average looking tree with a very thick trunk. I look up from my tablet. It looks cool but I wonder what it looks like from far away.

I walk back to the boat. As soon as I sit down, the boat moves on it's own away from the mini island. Once far enough, I look back at the mini island that had a tree in the middle.

It looked surprisingly normal... well at that's what I think. But it kinda looks lonely. There's only one tree in a patch of grass in the middle of water... while inside a cave.

I look back at my tablet. I place my stylus on my chin and think. Hmm...what else should I add. Flowers? Vines? Hmm... I look up from my tablet and look back at the tree hopping I would get some idea by looking at the tree.

My eye's widened.. _.That_ wasn't there before. I only looked away for a couple seconds. On the thick trunk of the tree... was a door. A door attached to the front of the tree and it was facing in my direction.

I don't know how long I stood there staring at the door, but I soon realise it must be one of those objects that were appearing out of nowhere. I didn't even need to look back at my tablet to check this time for I knew it must be it.

The boat suddenly starts moving towards the mini island that has the tree, the tree that now has a door attached to it's trunk. It's like the boat can tell what I'm thinking. Putting that aside, the boat has reached the mini island.

I get out and walk towards the tree, the door.

I stop just a few steps away from the door. Now that I think about it, most of the objects didn't combines with my creation, they were just placed there. However, this time the door seemed to be merged with the tree that I created. What does this all mean.

I wasn't going to get answers just standing around. I take in a deep breath to calm myself down. For some reason all of this was making me nervous. The more I move forward the closer I'll be to getting the answer one of my question.

What will happen when the countdown reaches 0?

I move closer to the door and place my hand on the face of the door... but nothing happened. That's strange, usually... wait, maybe I need to...

I look at the door handle

Maybe I need to... I touch the door handle but still nothing happens. I turn the door handle, it's unlocked, and still nothing happens. So it wants me to open it.

I hesitate at first but I then remember. What's the worst that could happen.

I turn the door handle... and open the door. I saw a short glimpse of what was inside before being thrown into a barrage of images. I saw a short glimpse the inside of a house, with furniture and everything. It's similar to the house me and my dad lived in but different.

The flashes of multiple images that were shown to me. The images were clearer then last time. The images were showing me glimpses of the house I saw. For some reason, something about this house seemed special. I saw a short flash of a bathroom, Bedroom, Kitchen, Living Room, Etc.

The last thing I saw was the number **4**

* * *

Rin's Room

I open my eyes. I'm in my bedroom again. I stare at the ceiling of my room, I wonder how I always end up back here. Do I suddenly teleport back to my room after I pass out or... Nevermind. I sir up and search for my tablet that was hidden under my blanket and check messages.

*No messages in 5 days*

I sigh. That was one thing that didn't change. One thing that stayed the same.

I decided not to waste any more time even though I had all the time in the world. I just can't wait to see what happens. Whether it will be something good or bad... as long as it's something different.

I take out my stylus and look at my tablet. I'm going straight work. Work? That's funny, I called it 'work'. Anyways, if I'm going to get answers then I'll have to keep going, start the day and...

What should I create today?

I think about it for a while

...

I don't know. I place my hands on my head and think harder

...

Still nothing. I can't think of anything. I was having another mind blank. Have I finally run out of ideas.

I start panicking. Normally, I would still be calm but things were different now. Why now of all times?

I take in a deep breath and calm myself down. What would I usually do... Oh yeah that's right.

I press a button on my tablet and suddenly headphones appear in my hands. I wear the headphones and and listen to one and only song that is available.

Classical music, if I remember correctly. This music always helped me relax. Good for thinking.

As I listen, I look at my tablet and think. Hmm... Yesterday I made a cave, an island, a tree...water. Water, the ocean?

I've made rivers and waterfalls before. But how about an ocean. I wonder what it would be like if I went underwater.

I place my stylus on my tablet and draw. The entire floor becomes water and the box that contains my bedroom is floating right above it. I walk up to the glass window of the box and stare at the large body of water that I made.

I take in deep and breath and walk outside.

* * *

Outside

As soon as I step outside, I fall into the water. The deep, deep water.

At first I close my eyes. It what a always did when entering water in this world. I would just float underwater and relax in the deep abyss of nothingness.

I open my eyes. I can see clearly even though I'm in water. I can breathe through my nose normally. Besides the fact that i'm floating, it feels no different when I'm on land.

Oh well then, time to go going. I look around the ocean that I created. There's nothing, just water and nothing else.

I'll first start of by adding land underwater so that the ocean has a bottom floor to it. Once that is down, I stand on the floor made of sand. It's funny, I can walk normally like how I would when above water even though I'm underwater right now.

I start walking forward into the endless nothingness of the ocean I created. What should I add to this emptiness.

Plants. Sea Plants. Plants like...seaweed and... That's all I know. What else exists in an ocean? Umm...I'll start with seaweed. Seaweed is green...right?

I place my stylus on my tablet and start drawing. As I draw, the seaweed starts appearing before me. I look up from my table and look... It still looks empty.

But I don't know what else belongs in an ocean. But then again, I can just put in whatever I want right? It's not like anyone is going to judge me.

I'll start by adding a tree. Wow, I really like trees don't I. Anyways, a tree underwater might look weird but I don't what else I should add. I start drawing and the trees appears in front of me. I was about to add grass but then I remember that I'm in water.

Hmm... Crystals! I could add Crystals. I don't know if they exist underwater but it'll still look nice.

I once again place my stylus on my tablet and begin drawing. As I draw, shiny green, red, pink, yellow and blue crystals appear all over the ocean floor, around the tree. I look up from my tablet... it's so pretty and colourful... but what else should I add?

There's a tree in the middle of the ocean floor with lots of colourful crystals around it.

I look up, the bottom floor of the ocean has light but darkness still roams when I look up. Maybe I could add shiny white cubes that just float up around the oceans. That'll add light to the top layer of the ocean.

I start drawing lots and lots of shiny white cubes that give light. I look up and see all the cubes floating around above me. They all looked so natural somehow.

Now what else should I create? ...Now that I think about it, the ocean floor isn't always flat is it?

Oh! I could add hills and canyons. I quickly draw them into my tablet. Let's see, A hill over there, I'll put a small canyon over there, another hill over there, a big canyon over there, a few more over here, hmm...Actually I think I should move that hill over there... no there's too many hills over there, i'll move it over here... no it's too close to a canyon. Hmm... you know what, I'll just delete that hill for now. There's enough hills and canyons anyway.

I look around the ocean that I created. Now it looks way more natural.

It all looks so pretty. All the seaweed, colourful crystals, shiny floating cubes, and of course the random tree in the middle that I just wanted to add...but something is missing. I don't know why but I feel like it's not complete yet.

There's something missing...Hmm... what could it be. Even with all the new things I added, the ocean still seems...empty.

I place my hand on my chin, close my eyes and think...still thinking...thinking...

My eyes open wide as I just realised what was missing. Creatures, aren't there suppose to be creatures living in the ocean? I don't know, I might be wrong.

But one thing caught my curiosity. Creatures... Now that I think about it, I've never created a living thing before. Or have I?

I look back at the tree that I put in the middle of the ocean... no I don't think I have. I walk up to the tree and lean against it.

But... Can I create a living thing? I've never tried it before.

I look at my tablet. But How? Do I just draw a picture of a creature? I'll try that and see what happens... now what sea creature should I create?

I know there are fish and ah... that's all I know. I'll start simple, after all this is a just testing whether it works or not. Fish are blue right? And they have those fin thingies.

I draw the fish on my tablet, this time drawing each detail with care. The eyes, the skin, the colour...I'm finish. Now's the big reveal. I slowly look up from my tablet and face forward.

There is it. The fish. The eyes, the skin, the colour. The fish was actually there, right in front of me. Floating in water.

...I wait for moment to see what it'll do... nothing. The fish isn't doing anything. It's just floating there staring at me. I guess the things I make are just made to stand still and look pretty.

I look back at my tablet and see something I didn't expect to see. On the screen, the fish I drew had new options next to it. A lot of new options, buttons and features around the fish. There were two big words on top of the fish that said-

 **Biotic Programming**

I blink twice and stare blankly at the two words... EH? What's that suppose to mean? I have no idea. I've never heard of these words before. Biotic? Programming? Hmm...

I look at the new options and buttons and around the fish. At first... I have no idea what any of it means. It looked so complicated. But I soon realised it's very simple.

When I first used this tablet. I already knew how to draw, but I learned how to delete things, copy and learn all these useful functions when drawing...because it was shown in a very simple way and easy to learn.

This was the same. All these new functions and buttons around the fish were very simple and easy to read... it just shows how my dad made this world _just_ for me. He made this world just to fit me. It shows how much he loved me... I miss my Dad.

Anyways, I should probally start learning how to do this... thing. Hmm... so If I'm right, If I press this...

Suddenly, the fish in front of me moves forward. The action surprises me that I end up falling backwards. I look up and the fish isn't moving. I look back at my tablet and stand back up.

I think I get it...So if I make the fish move over there.

Suddenly the fish starts moving in a direction.

Oh I get it now, I have to control all it's movements. But that would mean I can only make one creature move at a time. I want to make more sea creature so the ocean doesn't look empty. Is there a way to make them move on their own?

Something catches my eye. There's an option that says "Loop".

I press the button that says loop and more options and buttons show up.

Hmm... what could these mean... OH! I get it. It's actually really easy. A loop is something where you can make a creature do something over and over and over.

For an example. If I make the fish swim in circles and then press this and then that... It should work

I look up from my tablet and see the fish. It worked. The fish is just swimming in circles over and over and over. It looks weird but it won't once I add more sea creatures.

That wasn't too hard.

Now the question is... what sea creatures should I make. I'll just make some up.

I started rapidly drawing random sea creatures on my tablet. Some with lots of fins, others have tentacles, some have more eyes than others. I gave each creature a different loop. Some will swim forward, upward, sideways, backwards and then all over again. Some are swimming high up while others swim low near the ocean floor.

I created homes for them. Homes made of crystals, I made the hills hollow so that fish can live them. I place some sleeping fish inside these homes. I draw more weird looking sea creatures and add more objects.

I look up from my tablet...I look in pure bliss. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Before, every time I made something, I always had that feeling that something was missing. I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out.

It's so peaceful, the sea creatures living in the ocean that I created.

I sit on one of the hills just admiring the scene before me. The crystals, floating cubes, hills, canyons, sea creatures and of course the random tree that I place in the middle-

My eyes widened in shock. Right next to the tree was a... no it can't be. I must be seeing things. I look at my tablet... I didn't create... this has never happen before. Am my dreaming? Am my going to wake up back in my bed soon because surely this can't be real.

The tree that was placed in the middle of the ocean floor, on the ocean floor made of sand, leaning against the trunk of tree...was a another person.

I don't know how long I stared at the person but it must've been a long time. I start walking down the hill and towards the person.

As I got closer, I noticed she was a girl just like me.

I walk closer... I recognise her. Right before I saw the number **6** , I saw picture of a girl with long purplish-black hair. That girl was right here in front of me leaning against the trunk of the tree. Her eyes were close and she seemed to be sleeping.

If I lean closer I could actually hear her snoring softly.

I look at her, She's wearing a obsidian chest armour, a bluebottle violet tunic and a windswept skirt of the same colour beneath the armour. She also wore a thin, black sheath hung on her waist.

She looked so peaceful sleeping like that. I sit down in front of her and just stare. Who is she? Is she behind the countdown? Was she the one who placed all those strange objects so I could find them?

I just realised something. She's another person. Does that mean I'm not alone anymore? Does that mean I'll finally have someone else to be with? But what do I say when she wakes up?

Hi my name is Rin. No that's too simple

Hi and welcome to my world. No that doesn't sound right

Hello there, let's be friends. No I would sound too pushy

I must've been thinking for a long time for the girl suddenly moving. I saw that her eyes were slowly opening.

Out of nervousness and shock, My first instinct was to run and hide behind the tree.

I freeze hiding behind the tree. I can hear the girl getting up.

I peek my head out and look. The girl is standing up now and looking around. She looked surprised, probably because she's breathing underwater.

Oh my gosh, there's actually another person here. What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!

Then, one of the sea creature that I created swims by and the mysterious girl looks at the creature in amazement. She starts walking. She's walking normally like me even though were underwater.

I follow her. Don't know why but I just did. I created seaweeds to hide behind and continued to observer.

The girl is looking at one of the sea creatures I made. The girl follows the sea creature with her eyes and then looks confused.

I realised that the sea creatures I made was in a loop. In other words, they were just doing the same thing over and over.

I look at my tablet and take control of the sea creature that the girl was looking at. I make the sea creature swim in front of the girl. The mysterious girl smiles and pets the sea creature that I was controlling.

I get an idea. I make the sea creature swim and do a backflip. I look up from my tablet to see the girl's reaction. The girl looked amazed as she smiled. That smile, for some reason it made me feel happy.

I make the sea creature do more tricks. I'm improvising making the sea creature do things that I didn't know that you could make them do. I look up from my tablet to see the girl's reaction.

I freeze.

She's looking at me. Looking at me with a confused expression. Oh no, she spotted me. What do I do?! What do I do?! What am my panicking, isn't this a good thing?I noticed that the girl was closer to me than before which meant she was probally walking towards me but stop when we made eye contact.

He eyes. This was the first time I've seen her eyes. Her eyes are red. Is that normal?

The girl suddenly takes a step forward towards me. I take a step back. She takes a step forward. I take a step back. I don't know how long we did this but I ended up tripping and I fell bumping into the trunk of the tree I created. I am now on the floor leaning against the trunk of the tree and the girl is now right in front of me.

Suddenly the girl smiles "Hello there"

Those two words were enough to make my heart stop. Well... not literally but still. It's been so long since I've heard another voice that hearing one now almost seems unusual. The words she spoke rang through my head like a bell.

"Sorry if I scared you" The girl speaks again scratching her head. The girl then raises her hands up in defence "You don't have to be scared of me. I won't hurt you". The girl then offers her hand to me.

I have no idea how to respond to this. This has never happen before. I wasn't prepared for t his. What do I do?!

I hesitantly lift my right arm and... grab the girl's hand.

Suddenly, multiple images flashed through my line of vision. This time it took me by surprise for I didn't see it coming. I see lots of images. This time it was a bit clearer than last time. Again I saw the girl with purplish-black hair, I also saw images of what looked like a school or something like that. I saw the letters "AAA". I saw different places of the school, although I couldn't tell what they were for.

The last thing I saw was the number **3**

* * *

Rin's Room

I eyes open wide. I sit up and look around, I'm in my room again. What just happened

I remember my tablet and quickly search for it. Once I find it, I check the messages.

*No messages in 6 days*

In the past couple of days. Strange objects that I didn't create would appear, every time I touched those objects, it would trigger some sort of vision and the countdown would go down by one and I would always end up back in my bed...however this time is wasn't an object...it was a girl.

But was that girl real? Or was she also counted as one of those strange objects. But she talked. She actually talked with a voice and everything. I even forgot that people could talk in the first place until yesterday.

Also, I'm still wondering...how do I always end up back in my room?

What did all this mean? How many times have I asked myself that?

Will I see that girl again? I kinda want to.

Well, I wasn't going to get answers just standing around. The last number I saw was three. Which means I'm close to zero. WhJust thinking about makes me nervous.

I calm myself down, take in a deep breath... and start the day.

Once again, the walls start to disappear into pixels until the room was just a glass box with black borders.

I stare out the window of the box and stare into the world of nothingness that stood right next to my room.

What should I create today?

Yesterday I created creatures. Not actually living creatures but it's probally the closest I'm going to get.

Hmm...I'll start by just making a grass field.

I start drawing. As I draw the grass field forms itself around the box that contained my room.

I have no idea what to create next. I'll just go outside and talk a walk so I can think about.

* * *

Outside

I walk on the flat field of grass and think about what I should create.

Creatures. I made sea creatures but have I havn't made land creatures yet.

I start drawing on my tablet. The creature is going to have 6 legs, pink fur, two eyes, nose, mouth, ears, shiny teeth and two tails.

I finish drawing and look up from my tablet. It looks weird but interesting. It's half my height and the tails are semi-long. I look back at my tablet, just like last time new options and buttons appears around the creature that I drew. I still don't know what Biotic Programming means but whatever, I wonder what type of loop I should-

Suddenly, I hear someone gasp behind me "Oh hello again!"

I freeze. That voice sounds familiar. It should sound familiar, I heard it yesterday after all. But it can't be.

I slowly turn around and face the girl with purplish black hair. She's wearing the same clothes from yesterday. That was waaay too fast. I haven't even finished my creation for the day yet and she's already here. I didn't even know she was going to show up in the first place.

Having a person show up in the first place was shocking enough. But having the same person show up twice was unbelievable.

The girl looks at the creature that I created. "Whoa! What a strange looking animal"

Animal? Was that another word for creature. If so, I'll keep that in mind.

I just thought of something. Yesterday, the countdown went by one after I grabbed the girl's hand. So does that mean the same thing will happen if I touch the girl. I hope that's not the case, sure I would be able to skip a day and get closer to the truth but I want to hang out with this girl more. But is that the case? Only one way to find out.

The girl notice that I was staring at her "Is something wrong?"

I don't answer. Instead I just walk closer towards her. The girl didn't move back or anything. She just looked really confused.

I'm standing right in front of her right now. Now that I'm standing right in front of her, she's actually taller than me by a bit.

I then softly poke her in the cheek...

Nothing happened. The girl blinks twice and just stares at me confusingly

I poke her in the cheek again...

Still nothing

I poke her in the cheek again... Her skin feels really soft. I poke her cheek again two more times...It feels so real. I softly start pinching her check... it feels so smooth and-

"Umm...I don't want to be rude or anything but can I ask what are you doing?" The girl asked politely.

I completely forgot that I was poking another living person and not one of my creations.

I take a step back and blush from embarrassment. I open my mouth to apologize... but for some reason nothing came out of my mouth. I try as hard as I can but for some reason I can't talk.

Is it because I can't talk in this world? No, The girl in front of me can still talk in this world. Maybe it's because I haven't talk in so long that I lost my voice. Maybe.

The girl realises this "Can you talk? Because if not then you don't have to apologize, I was just wondering what you were doing"

I tried to talk again but I still can't form any words with my mouth. I shake my head meaning no.

The girl just smiled "It's okay, you can still understand me right?"

I nod

"That's good. By the way, did you create that?" The girl asked pointing at the creature that I created.

I nod

"Whoa! That's amazing! So you can create anything you want with that tablet?"

I nod. I show her an example by drawing a mountain on my tablet with my stylus. The mountain appears right below me and the girl. Both of us are now on top of the hill.

The girl looks in amazement "SUGOI! So what else are you going to make?"

I place my stylus on my chin and think for a while...Hmm...Before I created buildings...Oh! What if I combined the two things together. I could place a creature or animal, however you call, in a building.

I start drawing my idea. I first start with a rectangle building with glass windows. On the screen of the tablet, I look over to the pink furred creature that I made, using my stylus I pick up the creature and drop it in the rectangular building.

I then make copies of that creature so it doesn't look lonely.

I repeat this process but with a different made up animal and a...square building with windows. The square building is right next to the rectangle building. I should create lots of buildings with animals in them.

The best thing is that since I'm on top of a hill, I can see everything from a bird's eye view... that reminds me, birds. I start drawing birds and give them a loop making them fly in the air. Next I'm going to-

I stop when I realised something. The girl was standing right next to me, our shoulders touching. Again it shows that she's taller than me by a bit. She's tilting her head looking over my shoulder "Oh so your creating a zoo. That's cool!"

Zoo? What does that word mean? Anyways, it seems she's liking it which is good.

I start adding more things to the..."Zoo" or at least that's what the girl keeps calling it. As I'm drawing, the girl starts gives me her ideas about what else to make, what colour, etc. Most of her ideas looked really good. She would agree to all my idea and thought they were all good. To a point where I would start relying on the girl whether my idea was good or not.

I realise I was having way more fun than usual probally because I'm creating things with someone this time. I actually have someone else to share ideas with and to help me. Sure I couldn't talk but the thought itself made me smile.

I finished...we finished our creation, we both look up from the tablet and look. It's so-

"so pretty!" the girl exclaims finishing my thought. The girl starts sprinting down the hill and towards the..."Zoo" we created. I follow after her.

The girl reaches the zoo. She touches the walls of one of the buildings admiring it.

I smile. I'm glad she likes it.

We spent a while just walking around the place. We didn't say anything to each other but it wasn't awkward. Her company was all I needed honestly.

Suddenly, the girl gasped as she got an idea "Hey! This sounds really random but can you make a ferris wheel?"

I tilt my head in confusion. Ferris Wheel? What is the world is that?

"Do you know what ferris wheel is?" The girl asked

I shook my head.

"You know, it's like..." The girl does her best to described what a ferris wheel is. I start drawing, trying to copy what the girl described. Of course she had to correct a few things... a lot of things. I don't know how long we were there but after trial and error. We manage to build a..."ferris wheel".

We both look at the ferris wheel. "Does it work?" The girl asked

I look at my tablet. Using my stylus I make the ferris wheel move round and round slowly.

The girl looks in pure bliss "Well! Let's ride it!"

Ride it? Is that why all those chairs are attached to the giant wheel? So people can ride it.

I shrugged off the questions and follow the girl into the ferris wheel.

We sit down on one of the chairs. After we sat down, the ferris wheels kept moving bringing us higher and higher. As we go higher I start understanding why people would ride a ferris wheel. From high up you can see everything.

I stop the ferris wheel from moving so both of us could admire the scenery. We both look in amazement as we could see the zoo that we created. The girl is leaning forward leaning her arms on the iron bars while I sit back and relax.

Then I thought about something. The girl in front of me now probally knows way more than I do. She probably has seen way more things then I have...

I tap the girl in the shoulder.

The girl turns and look "Yes?"

With both of my hands, I offer her my tablet.

At first the girl looks at with confusion and disbelief "You're... letting me borrow it?"

I nod

"It seems really important to you? Are you sure you want a person like me playing with it?" The girl ask

I nod and smile to assure her.

"Okay. Thanks" The girl politely places both her hands on my tablet about to take it.

Suddenly, multiple images flashed through my line of vision. Like yesterday, it took me by surprise for I didn't see it coming. One image after the other. I saw many things. A city. I saw buildings and vehicles I've never seen before. But what stood out the most to me out of all the images... was all the people. There were people everywhere.

The last thing I saw was the number **2**

* * *

Rin's Room

My flew open. It happened again. I'm back in my bed, back in my room... again with no explanation how I got back here.

Everything was starting to make sense until now. So many questions. I'm so confused.

I calm myself down and search for my tablet. Once I find it, I check my messages.

*No messages in 7 days*

It was the next day. Just when I about to...

I sigh

What did all this mean?

I'm up to the number 2. Which means I'm more closer to the truth... I think.

I take in a deep breath and once again...start the day.

I place my stylus on my tablet and draw a grass field. The same field I made yesterday. Once the field is created, I stand up and walk outside

* * *

Outside

I walk on the grass filling the wind blow against my face. I'm not not going to create anything yet. I'm going to wait... to see if that girl appears again.

... I waited and waited and waited...nothing. The girl with the purplish-black hair didn't show up.

I sigh. Guess it was too good to be true. Now that she's not here I kinda feel...sad and lone-

I shake my head. No, I shouldn't think like that. It's because of my dad that I'm still here. My Dad would've wanted me to be happy so I shouldn't complain.

I calm myself down and think what I should create today.

Hmm...wait, yesterday I saw images of a lot of people... and I'm able to create living creatures... so does that mean I can create...people?

This was something I've thought of doing before. The idea did come across my mind a few times but I didn't if it was possible. But is it possible?

Well, I guess there's only one way to find out. I place my stylus on my tablet and draw... wait but what should the person look like?

Before I start, I create a mirror. Using the mirror I look at my own reflection. I look at every detail of myself.

Can I really do it? Can I really create another person? I wish that girl was here, she probally would've known what to do.

I quickly shake my head and start drawing.

I start with the legs, arms, chest, and then the face. Just like me, this person had two eyes and ears, a mouth and a nose. He or she, don't know yet, has black hair and is shorter than me.

I look up from my tablet and observe. The person I created doesn't look like a real life person but cartoonish person. But it's still very detailed. The person I created didn't move, it just stood there not moving an inch.

I slowly look back at my tablet. I gasp in excitement.

One the screen, The same options like before appeared around the person that I made. The same two bigs words from before appeared on top of the person.

Biotic Programming

I press a button and the person suddenly takes a step forward.

This is so cool! I can control how many steps the person takes, what action the person does , I can even control how many times the person can blink.

I immediately start making other things. I create more people and I could also create animals so the people can have them as pets. People live in buildings right? I'll create one huge building so everyone can hang out inside it.

Inside the building I create chairs and tables. I create counters and windows and furniture and more random objects.

I draw children and using loops I make the children play chasey. The people I created couldn't talk but I make their mouths move up and down and make it look like their talking.

There's people sitting down and others standing up. Laughing, chatting and just hanging. I play the one and only classical music song I know and put it at full volume to make things more livelier.

I add a loop to every single living thing making each one of them doing a different thing.

I sit on one of the chairs and admire my creation. It feels so much more livelier with the people and everything. Even though I know there just my creations which I control but it's still enough to lighten up my mood.

The people talking to each other, the children playing chasey, the music, the animals, the girl with purplish-black hair...wait what?!

I look closer and can't believe my eyes. On the other side of the building, the same girl from yesterday was sitting on one of the chairs staring at the people I created. She looked confused probably because the people I created are ignoring her.

But she's back. For a third time!

I just stared at her not moving from my spot. I observer The girl's movements. She's not moving from her spot but she is looking around the place. She looks at the cartoonish people chatting to each, she looks at the children playing chasey, she looks at...me.

She's looking at me. From her expression I could tell that she instantly recognised me. "It's you!" She exclaimed excitedly.

The girl gets up and walk towards me.

"Hello again" she said once she was in front of me "Wow this is really a surprise to see you again!"

I tilt my head in confusion. She's surprised to see me again?

I couldn't talk but the girl seem to understand the question I wanted ask.

The girl scratched her head "Well you see, it's not everyday that I dream about the same person three days in a row"

Dream? What did she mean when she said dream?

I shrugged it off for now. I'm just glad that she's back. The girl asked another question "So if you're here, does that mean you created this?"

I nod

"Wow! Your very creative" The girl looks around the place, the place that I created "It looks amazing! You can also create people which is really impressive"

For some reason hearing that made me feel really glad.

Then, the girl softly gasped as she just remembered something. "Oh yeah! Before I forget, can I ask you something?"

I nod

"What's your name? I know it's kinda late. I wanted to ask before but I always woke up before I wanted to ask"

I didn't know what she meant by 'woke up' but I was more than happy to tell her my name.

I open my mouth to tell her... but nothing came out of my mouth. I can't form any words with my mouth. I can still think but I struggled to talk.

The girl realises this "Oh yeah, I forgot you have troubles talking. I'll just tell you my name then"

For some reason I really looked forward to that. Just thinking about it made me feel excited.

The girl clears her throat "Hi nice to meet you. My name is-"

Suddenly, multiple images flashed through my line of vision. I see a house, a bed, some sort of school, people and I see a girl. It's the same girl with the purplish-black hair and she's hanging out with someone. I can only the see the back of their heads but the girl, who was next to the purplish-black haired girl, looked like...me.

The last thing I saw was the number **1**

* * *

Rin's Room

I open my eyes. I look around...I'm in my room again.

I know I should be happy that I'm closer to the truth but I'm kinda feel frustrated that I didn't get to know her name.

I sigh. Maybe I'll see her again today. I have one more day until the countdown reaches 0... I think. I actually don't get what any of this means. I might be just getting my hopes up.

I don't even know what's going to happen when the countdown reaches zero.

I look up and stare at the ceiling of my room. I think about everything that's happened. The countdown, the random objects and the purplish-black haired girl. I wonder what other surprises wait for me.

I have so many questions as well and each day is only adding more to that list.

This can't possibly get more complicated.

I suddenly remember my tablet. I quickly search for it under the blanket and check messages.

*You have 1 new message*

I stare at my tablet in shock, not believing what I was seeing.

New message?

From who? Dad? That girl? If not...them who?

I slowly touch the icon of the messages and read the new message.

* * *

To: Rin

From: ?

Have you ever asked yourself, What will become of me from now on?

* * *

I don't know how to respond to this. I just stared at my tablet completely frozen.

According to the tablet, I received this message a couple of seconds ago.

It doesn't say who it's from. What did this mean? How does this person know? What do I do? Why? How? What?

I stare at the tablet for who knows how long. But I somehow reached a conclusion.

With very shaky hands I type a reply to the mysterious message. I simply replied

"Yes"

Suddenly, the wall of my room start to disappear into pixels until the room was just a glass box with black borders. The furniture still remained.

I get out of my bed, stand up and look out the window into the abyss of nothingness...My eyes widened.

Standing on air, in the abyss of nothingness, not far from the glass box that I was in...was another person.

The person wore something that looked like the combination of a lab coat and a hoodie. The person's clothes consisted the colours _blue_ and _white_. He/She wore a hood so I couldn't see his/her face... but I could tell that the person was staring at me.

Both of us didn't move. I didn't move, I was too shocked to do that.

What am I suppose to do?

Honestly all I could do we stare back at the mysterious person. I don't know how much time passed, I never kept track of time, but it felt like forever.

Suddenly, my entire room starts shaking. It wasn't shaking viciously. No it was shaking softly but it still felt scary. I was still able to remain standing and not fall over, the person wearing blue and white is still there.

Suddenly, pieces of my line of vision started turning black. Pixel by pixel, I slowly saw everything disappear until everything faded.

* * *

 **Another Location**

"Your team will arrive at the crash site in 2 minutes"

"Roger that"

"The crater is over 100 meters in diameter"

"What do you think is it?"

"..."

"I don't know. Everyone, remember to proceed with caution and prepare for anything"

"We don't even know what to prepare for"

"Well it is our job to find out"

"We should all be honoured. The media went crazy when _it_ landed, everyone is dying to know what it is. At least we get to experience what it is first hand"

"True that"

"Everyone get ready! ...were here"

* * *

The aircraft landed near the site in the desert.

The hanger door to the space ship opened and seven people wearing the same uniform exited the spaceship.

One person held a sniper gun.

Another held twin swords.

Another held a laser rifle gun.

Another held hand blades.

Another held a demonic scythe.

Another held a demonic sword.

Another held a black katana.

The girl holding the laser rifle gun stared at the others "What is it with you guys and using melee weapons"

The person who held the demonic scythe replied "What's wrong with me using Shikama Doji? It is against the law?" She asked sarcastically

"You know you don't have to use the weapons that's from your anime"

"Look over there"

Everyone looks to where Kanade pointed to and they all gasped

"Oh my gosh"

"It's huge!"

"Sinon"

"Already on it" She replied. Using her sniper gun to scope the enormous crater.

"How can a single meteoroid caused this much damage?"

"That doesn't look like a meteoroid" He said pointing at the middle of the crater

"What is the world is that?"

The girl known as Sinon spoke "It looks like some sort of spaceship" she said looking through the scope of her sniper gun.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure"

"So...do we all just dive in and charge or just stand here and do nothing. I'm fine either way"

"Everyone stay here...I'm going to take a closer look"

"Are you sure? We don't even know if it's hostile or not"

"That's what I want to find out. Yuichiro, you're coming with me"

"Okay"

"..."

"Be careful"

The two men climb down the crater and head towards the middle. After about 5 minutes they reach the middle of the crater.

"Do you see it?"

"Yeah! It some sort of space craft"

"A UFO?"

"Don't jump to conclusion"

"It's Very small considering-"

"What's wrong?"

"It's opening"

"What do you mean it's opening"

"The door of the ship is opening"

"I have visuals, should I shoot?"

"WAIT!"

The door of the small spacecraft opens and lots of smoke appears.

With their swords in hand, the two men approach the spacecraft.

As the smoke cleared and they got closer. Their eyes widened

"What's wrong Kirito?"

"It's...It's..."

"Eh?"

"I'm sorry can you please repeat that"

"It's a girl... and she's still breathing!"

* * *

 **A/N End of the first part which means this story is 50 percent done. The next part might take a very long time to finish considering I have to finish writing Akame Ga Save and Strangers In Remnant. The second part is going to take a VERY LONG time to finish but I'll manage.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading this far. Reviews are appreciated. If you have any problems with this chapter feel free to tell me in reviews and I'll try make it right. Until then...BYE**

 **This was finished on 24/04/2017**


	2. The Beginning of a-

**A/N You know when I said this was going to be a two-shot...yeah, well now I have no idea what to call it. This chapter is obviously not the final chapter because it dragged on for way too long. This story might end up getting 3-4 chapters or might turn into a series, I'm not sure anymore.**

 **Disclaimer** **: Rin is a character from the short anime film called Shelter made by Porter Robinson and Madeon.**

 **Warning: Like the last chapter, this contains lots of spelling and typing errors. IF you spot any, please point them out to to so I can fix it.**

* * *

My eyes flicker but slowly open. I'm back in my room- Wait a minute...why is the ceiling a different colour? Why does everything feel different?

I don't know, my vision is a bit blurry so I can't tell. My bed feels different though. The air also feels different. My...body feels different. For some reason my body feels heavier. I try move my head to look around but when I do a weird and unpleasant feeling rushes through my head. This is new.

I blink a few times before my eyes finally adjust to the room. When I can finally look around clearly my eyes widened a bit.

Where am I?

Everything is...everything is so different. There's not one thing I see that I can recognize.

I'm in sort of room. I can feel the room is softly shaking. The room is pretty small. The walls, floor and roof was made out of some sort of metal. There's screens on the sides of the room. On the other side of the room there's something that looks like some sort of door with no door handle. I'm lying down on a bed fit for only one person. There's these weird tube things attached to me and a strange machine next to me that goes *Beep...Beep...Beep*

I feel like I've seen that before.

I ignore that question for I have more important ones.

Where am I?

How does that door open without a door handle?

Why am I here?

How did I get here?

What is this place?

Why does my body feel so different and strange?

How long have I been here?

Why is the room shaking?

Am I still in my world?

Where's my tablet?

That's what I'm most worried about. My tablet. I always had it and now I couldn't find it. Wait...the tablet. The tablet was what I used to control that digital world. If the tablet isn't here then...does that mean...I'm no longer in it? I might be rushing this, maybe my tablet is just lost somewhere in this room.

But...what if...maybe, just maybe that world was all just a long dream. Maybe that's what the purplish-haired girl meant when she said 'dream'.

Wait, does that mean I've been sleeping here this whole time?

I've just noticed something... I can't move. Why can't I move? My entire body feels so numb? Is it because of those weird tubes things attached to me...no, it's not that. It's my body itself. My body feels so weak. It's exactly like I wasn't able to talk. I try but my body won't listen to me.

What do I do?

Wait?

Stay here?

I realised that I was panicking so I take in a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down like how I did every other day...I'll start small and then my way up from there. Starting with my hand. I try moving it... but my hand doesn't respond.

I try again...nothing. My hand just doesn't want to move.

Suddenly, the entire room shakes more roughly which scared me causing me to close my eyes for a moment. The shaking returns to the normal soft shaking but my eyes remain close. After a few moment, I open my eyes and look around the room.

I wait a couple more seconds just in case something else happens. After I was sure, I returned my focus to my hand.

I tried moving it...nothing. No response. I literally couldn't move and I wasn't even being restrained.

I try again...still nothing. I can't even move my hand. Was I always like this? In the digital world that I owned, I felt nothing. I would physically feel nothing. When I touched a cactus I would feel nothing. When I fell from a high place I would feel nothing. Now, my body is receiving all kinds of feeling I've never felt before.

I can feel the blanket that covered my body. It feels soft...My clothes feel different for some reason. I wish I could move my head up so I could see but as you know...I can't move. My entire body feels weak.

The only part of my body of my body that I could move were my eyes. Well, I could move my head side to side but that was pretty much it. I look around. There's not that much in this room. It's hard to tell where I am. That's not important right now. Now I need to focus.

I take another deep breath...and start the day. This new and different day. Very different.

I try moving my hand again. This time with a bit more strength...it twitched. My hand twitch which means progress. I try again and again.

My hand twitches little by little until eventually I can move my hand fully...just my right hand though. Everything else is still unmovable.

I move my head to the left side. As I turn my head, I get this strange uncomfortable feeling around my neck. But I still managed to turn my head and look.

For the first time today, I see something that I recognize... My teddy bear, my teddy bear was sitting on a table right next to my bed. The same teddy bear my dad gave to me on my birthday. I was about to reach for it and hug it but I remembered that I can only move my hand and not my arm.

My arm feels numb. Well, my whole body felt numb. I try moving my arm while moving my hand. Using the teddy bear as an encouragement, I force my arm to move.

I raise my arm towards my teddy bear. My hand and my entire arm is shaking and it wasn't because of the room.

Speaking of the shaking room. Once again, the room shakes more roughly but then stops. However, it was enough to throw my arm off balance and my arm fell.

The room then continues to shake softly. I wait while taking a rest. Just from that attempt, my arm feels tired and weak.

After resting for a couple of moments, I try again. I raise my arm. As I do so my arm starts shaking by itself again but I keep doing.

The table was right next to my bed so I didn't need to reach far.

I'm touching my teddy bear now. I wrap my shaky fingers around it's head and slowly pull it towards me.

I pull my teddy bear towards my chest and hug it with one arm. My other arm still felt numb and I still couldn't move it.

But I'm glad there's something familiar here. But what do I do now? I'm still confused and I still have so many questions. As I hug my teddy bear a bit harder, I have flashbacks of my dad...dad would've known what to do if he was here.

I quickly shake off that thought and focus. There was a strange metal door to the room which is something I'm not used to. There's something on the other side of that door but I need to move if I want to get there.

I look at my other hand and start going to work. Now that I have one arm moving, moving the other hand didn't take as long.

Once again the room shakes more roughly which made me stop. The shaking stops after a while. No matter how many times it happens it never fails to scare me.

I wait a while for the room to calm down before I went back to my arm.

I could already move my other hand and I'm right now focusing on my other arm. After a couple of tires I can finally move both of my arms.

Using my hands, I try to sit up. As I sit up a weird and uncortable feeling rushes through my back and neck. But I kept going until I was sitting up right. Suddenly, the top bit of the bed starting moving upwards by itself until it was like a chair.

I lean against it still sitting on the bed. I do some stretches, as I do some stretches that weird and unfortable feeling rushes through my back and neck again.

After that I look at myself. I'm not wearing my usual clothes anymore. I'm wearing some sort of night gown. Was I always wearing this or did someone change me into this.

I'm jumping to conclusion. I don't even know if there are other people. This might just be another world where I'm all alone...although, I hope I see that girl with the purplish-black hair again...I never got to find out her name.

I need to get up.

It's obvious that I'm no longer where I was but where am I?

The lower part of my body still feels numb though. Even the upper part of my body still feels weird.

These feelings...they seem familiar yet so unrecognisable.

I kinda miss the other world. I knew everything there, I could do anything in it, and I owned it. Sure I was a bit lonely but my dad sacrificed his life to create that world...just for me. It's the only memory I have of him. Thinking about this makes me a bit...homesick or just sad.

I close my eyes and think.

No. I can't think like that. My dad wouldn't want that. I have to keep moving on and think about the future. That's what my dad wanted. Back in that world, I was always so close to losing hope...but those memories always made me stronger.

I open my eyes again, this time with more determination. I need to know where I am, get familiar with may surroundings and get used to these weird feelings.

I start wiggling in my bed but I get no responses from my lower part of my body. It budge a bit but that was it.

The room once again shakes more roughly making me freeze in place. After it stops, I wait a few more seconds so the room can calm down before continuing.

I focus my energy mostly on my legs and they start twitching bit by bit. Moving my legs was like trying to move something with just your mind.

My leg moved a bit to side. I'm progressing but I need a break. I lean back on my bed and breath. This was tiring and hard. A bit frustrating as well. And the these white tube things connected to me weren't helping, they were making it worse in fact.

I sit up straight and continue. My leg moves bit by bit until it's near the edge of the bed. I take in a deep breath and move my leg bit by bit until it falls over the edge of the bed.

A weird feeling rushes threw my leg as it fell but now my toes are touching the floor. I pant for air for a while before I focus on my other leg.

My leg twitches and moves bit by bit. My right leg is finally is near the edge of bed but before I do anything else the room shakes more roughly and cases my leg to fall to floor by itself. That one really made my heart jumped.

After the shaking stops, I wait a while. A bit longer this time since I needed time to recover.

Both of my toes are touching the ground now. I turn my body until I'm completely facing the left side of the bed. The white tubes things attached to me feels more weird now but I continue.

I'm on the edge of the bed now, my hands are clutching the the bedsheets while my feet make full contact with the floor. It's then I realised how cold the floor is.

The room itself is cold to be honest and my night gown isn't helping that fact.

Despite my feet now touching the ground, I'm still depending on my hands which are still clutching onto the edge of the bed. Leaning against the bed, I stop and look down.

I jumped from high heights back in that world but for some reason this was all making me nervous.

My hands shake a little as I pant for air, my body has never felt this weak before making my even more nervous.

I look at my teddy bear sitting on my lap before I take a breath of courage...and lightly push myself away from bed.

My teddy bear falls to the ground and I stand up with my weight being carried by my feet. Then, the door with no handle opens by itself. I turn my head and I make eye contact with a man standing at the door.

The man had short black hair and his clothes consisted mostly of the colour black. The man seemed shocked to see me.

Our eyes met for half a second before my legs give up on me. I can't feel my legs nor can I control them. My legs felt so numb that it almost felt like I didn't have any legs in the first place.

I start falling.

I couldn't even bend my knees for my legs weren't listening. They were completely rigid.

I continue to fall. For a moment, time seemed to slow down.

It was strange, back in my world I would always create large pillars of rocks and I would always enjoy jumping off them. Yet here I was, scared because I was falling from a very small height in a different place.

All I could do was stare as I slowly fell towards the floor.

The man sprang into action and sprints into room just in time to catch me with his arms before I hit the ground.

The room suddenly shakes viciously and the man who caught me held me tighter until the vicious shaking stopped.

The shaking stops as it was then my mind finally process who had caugth me.

It's...another person? Wait...The man's hand feel warm and familiar. This smell...it's similar to...can it be?

"That was close."

His voice is different. I turn my head and look at the man. I don't recognised his face yet he seemed so familiar.

I guess I was wrong...he wasn't my dad.

"Hey Kirito, is she-" A girl, I do not recognized, with purple hair wearing some sort of black and green uniform enters the room but freezes when she sees the position the man and I are in.

The girl looks at us for a moment before placing her hand over her mouth to hide her grin. "Oh my, Kirito are you cheating on your wife again?"

The man stares back at the girl with a straight face. "What do kind of person do you think I am?"

"You know." The girl says still grinning. "The perverted kind. ANYWAYS, what happen here? How is she able to move?"

The man picked me up and carefully placed me back on the bed which made me pout a little out of frustration since I spent so hard to get off that bed. Although I am thankful that the man was there to catch me.

I then realise my teddy bear is still on floor. I try reach for it with my arm but my arm wasn't long enough.

The man notices this. He picked up my teddy bear and offers it to me.

I don't move. I just stare at him still debating with myself whether this was all real or not. This man isn't one of my creations...his...his...real. So is that girl with the purple hair. These were actual people like that girl with the purplish-black hair.

I have so many questions...How? Why? Where? What?

I'm not complaining...but...but how can I tell where I am? How do I know that I not in that world anymore? This could be another memory my dad set up for me.

Memory? How can this be a memory? The people are actually talking to me like I'm actually here. If this is what I think it is then...I don't know...I just don't know.

All these years of being alone- no I wasn't alone, was I? No I was- wait I had my- yes, no, I ah, wait what...I am so confused. Nothing is making sense.

Maybe? This...Is this... just a dream? It can't be, I never got dreams when I slept in that world...Or did I? I don't know, I think I did but I never remember them. This doesn't feel like a dream. I don't think you can feel anything when your dreaming. I'm not sure actually. What is a dream suppose to feel like? I don't I've ever had a dream so I can't tell.

Well...there are those times where I randomly find myself floating in...water?

Yeah, I remember now. I would see some sort of vision. I would see...things. Things I couldn't comprehend...and I remember always waking up every time I open my eyes.

If I remember correctly, during these visions my eyes were always close but I could feel myself floating underwater. I would just see...

black...water...red clouds...more darkness...sunlight...more water...fire...darkness...more fire. Burning. Red sky. Fire. Buildings. Red. Myself. Debris. Dad. Flames. Rubble. Dad come back. Chaos. Burning. More red. I miss you. Havoc. Catastrophe. Dad don't go. Fire. Red Eyes. Destruction. Dad I-

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa." The man went closer to me, softly placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Calm down...calm down...were not going hurt you...calm...down...take a deeeeep breath."

His voice sounds warm and comforting. I slowly take a deep breath as the machine next to me continues to make loud beeping noises. I take another deep breath and then take another. I calm down as the machine next to me also quiets down. I didn't even realise I was panicking.

"It's okay, don't worry...you're safe." Once again the man offers me my teddy bear.

"Are you sure she can understand you?"

I look at the girl and then back at him. I had completely gone off topic and totally forgot about what was right in front of me. This was real. These were real people. Why am questioning this? I should be happy. I'm not physically alone anymore. This is all real.

I hesitantly and slowly take my teddy bear from the man who then smiled at me.

I open my mouth to say thank you but nothing came out of my mouth. Like last time, my mouth can open but I can't seem to form any words.

Before anything else could be said, another man walked into the room but stopped when he saw me. He had short black hair and wore what seemed to be the boy version of the purple haired girl's uniform.

The man walked in casually but froze when he saw me.

"Hey Yuichiro!" The purple haired girl called out to the man who had entered the room. "Go tell the others..."

The purple haired girl paued to add a dramatic effect.

" _She's_ awake."

She added a dramatic effect to the word She's for some reason.

The man named Yuichiro nodded and exited the room. As he left, the man who reminded me of my dad spoke to me.

"Hallo." He spoke very slowly. "Are you okay? Can you understand me?"

The purple haired girl stared at the man weirdly. "Really Kirito? Did you really just ask a girl from space whether she could understand us?"

The man looked at me. "Can you?"

I confusingly look at the man who I presume is Kirito before nodding. Both of them seemed shocked when I nodded at them. But why?

"A-are you serious?" The purple haired girl asked in disbelief, her grin was now gone.

I nod.

The girl was silent for a moment and so was Kirito.

"Wow." The purple haired suddenly spoke before half smiling. "What are the odds?"

I'm really confused. Why is it so surprising that I can understand them? We're all people right?

"Can you speak?" Kirito asked me.

I shake my head. I already tried before and it didn't seem to work. I could make small, soft, crackling noises but that was it. My voice- no, my mouth, throat and everything just seems really weak.

It seemed Kirito and the purple haired girl was a bit skeptical but before something else could be said, the man from before came back. "I'm back! I gathered almost everyone."

Right on cue, 4 more people entered the room. The sudden increase in company overwhelmed me and the fact that all of them, except for Kirito, was staring at me like I was some sort of creature did not help. I shifted backwards until my back hit the end of the bed.

One of them is a women with black hair tied into a uneven twin tails. She had blue circular eyes and her face showed no emotion. As soon as she enters the room, she leans against the wall and stared at me coldly which scared me the most.

"Where's Kotori?" Shinoa asked.

"In the Main Bridge Room." A girl with silver hair and gold eyes answered with a straight face.

There's another girl with magenta-purple coloured hair, a headband with a green ribbon on the right side of her head and she held a strange object in her hand.

Kirito looks at her. "You won't need that?"

"How do you know?" The girl replied. "We don't know anything about her."

Another girl with dark hair looks at me. "She doesn't look like a threat."

The man from before chimes in, "Yeah, I mean look at her, she's scared."

"Her heart rate did rise rapidly when she saw the two of us." The purple haired girl pointed out.

The girl holding the strange object looks at me suspiciously and questioningly before sighing. She pressed a button that was on some sort of hand band she was wearing and the strange object she was holding dispersed into into tiny particles until it was completely gone. I stare at her hand that once held the object in both shock and amazement.

Everyone in the room then turns to each other to share their thoughts, staring back at me every so often.

"How is she moving?"

"She's looks really human for a girl who came from space."

"Are you sure she's not from this planet?"

"We already check the database remember. There's no one on this entire planet who looks like her."

"Maybe she's some sort of invader?"

"Why would you think that?"

"I doubt that. Look at her, she looks so vulnerable right now."

The purple haired girl, who said nothing during this conversation, decided to finally tell everyone. "You know she can understand you... right?"

Everyone falls silent for a moment and stares at the Kirito to confirm that was true.

Kirito nods. "She can't talk though."

"So... she's mute?"

"If you put it that way, I guess so."

All eyes in the room then turn to look at me which made me jump a little. For a moment, I forgot that I was actually here and that this wasn't some sort of recording that I was just watching. Honestly, I wasn't really listening for I was still processing the fact that there were other people here besides me. I hug my teddy bear tighter and nervously look back at them.

They started whispering things to each other that I could not hear. But I could tell they all had their doubts.

I'm still very confused about why they don't believe me? I can understand them because I just can, what's so surprising about that? Was it something I did? Maybe I did something bad? I don't know what I did but I'll say sorry if I could.

After what felt like an eternity to me, it seemed they made a decision and looked at me. I hug my teddy bear a bit tighter.

"Hallo." I flinched, still not used to talking to other people, when the man from before spoke, a comforting smile slowly appearing on his face. "Sorry if we scared you before. I know you must be going through a lot but is it okay if we ask you a few question?"

I shift nervously in my bed. I had hundred questions of my own but it seems I was in no position to ask. But what kind of questions? Will they be hard to answer? I kinda want to say no but I want these people to trust me so I nod.

"Do you remember anything?" Was the first question for me to hear.

I nod. I remember a lot of things actually but it wasn't like I could tell them.

"Do you know why you're here?"

I shake my head. I don't even know how I got here or where this place is? Although my head was barely working and felt really dizzy.

My eyes have been wide open this entire time for I still couldn't believe that I was talking to another person. Then again, I've spoken with that purplish black haired girl...I really wish I knew her name.

The girl with purple hair suddenly clapped her hands together bringing everyone's attention to her. "Oh my, how rude of us."

"What is it?" Kirito asked taking the words right out of my mouth.

"We walk in out of nowhere and start asking you questions without even introducing ourselves." The purple haired girl looked at her companions. "Don't you guys agree?"

She had a point and everyone else seem to think so as well. Thinking about it made me a bit excited. These people having actual names only proves that this is all real and that all of this isn't just my imagination. It still leaves me with so many questions but now there are other people I can actually ask these questions to. If I could talk that is.

I loosen the grip on my teddy bear and wait to see what they say next.

To my confusion, the purple haired girl's question was met with a short moment of awkward silence.

Everyone in the room looked at each other. It seems they were hesitant about something...but why? Maybe it's a secret for them and it's too personal to tell. I'll be more than happy to tell them my name but I still can't talk.

"So...do we tell her our real names-"

"No, we're not allowed to. The rules still apply."

"Oh come on, she's an exception right? Surely the law doesn't apply to her."

"You never know, she might-"

"Black Rock Shooter." Everyone turned to face the girl with twintails who was leaning against the wall. She continued to stare coldly at me, her voice was flat and unemotional. "My comrades either call me Black or Rock for short. You can chose."

And that was all she said.

Black Rock Shooter? That's a cool name. Doesn't sound like a name but it's certainly a name I wouldn't come up with only proving that she's real. Why does she have three names though? I think I'll call her Black because it seems mean to call someone...a rock.

"Oh so were going with that huh?" The purple haired girl said before facing me and clearing her threat. "In that case. Hello, my name Shinoa...Shinoa Hiragi."

Shinoa. Once again, It's a name I have never heard of. Why does she have two names though? Is it normal to have more than one name here?

The man from before punched his chest and smiled. "Yuichiro Hyakuya, but you can call me Yu for short."

Now I really wish I could talk, or at least just be able to say my name. It seems rude and I kinda feel bad now.

The girl with silver hair and golden eyes bowed her head politely. "Kanade Tachibana."

She said her name with a straight face. Her face was neither happy or sad so it was really hard to tell what she was feeling at the moment. Wait, are we suppose to bow? Oh my gosh, I didn't bow when the others introduced themselves. What if they think I'm rude?

I quickly, but also nervously bow back at Kanade like a child trying to copy their parent's movements.

"Yuri Nakamura." The girl with magenta-purple hair and a headband with a green ribbon waves at me. I bow and awkwardly wave back at her.

It seems unfair. I should give them my name as well, it's only fair right? I feel a bit of guilt build inside me. They must really want to know what my name is and I can't even tell them...but I want to.

"Asada Shino. Nice to meet you." The girl with dark hair and glasses introduces herself. "But people just call me Sinon as a nickname."

Nice to meet you too. Is what I wish I could say but I remain silent...What's a nickname?

And finally, the last person was the man who reminded me of my dad. "Hello, pleasure to meet you. My name is Kirigaya Kazuto. My nickname is Kirito is that's what you want to call me."

Kirito. I heard Shinoa say it a few times but that was pretty much it. All these names was unfamiliar to me.

"Do you remember your name?" Yu asked me.

I nod. I want to tell them. I feel bad just thinking about it. I know my name, they want to know, I want to tell them...but I...I...

I open my mouth and try again. No sound was made. I try a bit harder and I once again make soft crackling noises instead of actual words.

Kirito realises what I'm trying to do and place a gentle hand on my shoulder again. "No it's okay. If you can't talk then It's fine. You shouldn't stress yourselves just because-"

"R-Rrr-Rr-Rrr-Ri..."

Everyone freezes as soon as they heard a more clearer but still blurry sound come out of my mouth. They stare at me waiting really patiently.

I ignore their glares and continue.

"Rr-Ri...Ri..."

My throat starts getting really dry and I start getting nervous.

"Ri-Ri..."

I stop to take a short break to pant for a few seconds, the nervousness was slowly taking over. I then take in a deep breath and-

"R-Rin."

The mention of my name hung in the air.

Silence quickly filling the room once again.

It was like they thought they didn't hear me properly.

"Rin?" Yuri repeated finally. "T-that's it. That's your name?"

I nod.

"You don't remember your full name or anything like that?" Yuri added.

Full name? Is Rin not a full name? I'm pretty sure I said Rin completely didn't I? How did I not _fully_ say it? Maybe I said my name wrong or... maybe she's wondering why I only have one name.

I shake my head.

Everyone in the room looks at each other for a few moments. Most of them just shrugged while I just confusedly stare at each one of them. Although, Black just kept glaring at me with those blue circular eyes. I swear her eyes are glowing.

"Okay then!" Shinoa said clapping her hands, that grin reappearing on her face. "Greetings Rin, welcome aboard."

Before anything else could be said, the room once again begins to shake more viciously. This time it was more rough and felt more powerful. I close my eyes and hug my teddy bear as the room continues to shake like a earthquake.

This time is lasted longer than the others. I hug my teddy bear tighter and wait...it feels like the walls are going to fall apart any moment now. It's been a long time since I've felt scared before and I don't like it.

The vicious shaking stops...it completely stopped as a matter of fact. Before, the room would just softly be shaking and it would shake brutally sometimes but now...the room was completely still...the room didn't move an inch.

"Awww, aren't you just adorable."

I slowly open my eyes and look at Shinoa who was grinning at me.

Kirito was still calm and even smiling. I look at him with fear clearly visible on my face.

He suddenly got closer to me and raised his hand. His sudden movements caught me off guard causing me to close my eyes and wait...

I feel something warm on my head. I open my eyes again and looked to see that Kirito was rubbing his hand on my head. "It's okay, you're safe. There's no need to worry."

It felt comforting, warm and for a short moment I saw that is was my dad rubbing his hand on my head and not Kirito. It was only for a moment but it was enough to calm me down.

I look around the room.

Kanade's expression didn't change, I still can't tell whether she's happy, sad, calm, worried or anything.

Sinon was still casually standing but she was closer to the wall now.

Yu was acting completely normal like nothing happened but now he was on the opposite side of the room and so was Yuri.

Black. Well...she hasn't budge from her previous spot. She was still leaning against that same wall...still staring at me.

With my fear gone, I stare at Shinoa both shocked and confused.

Shinoa giggles. "Wait for it..."

After a few seconds, a woman's voice was heard through the whole room making me jump in my bed. The voice seemed to be coming from some sort of speaker.

"All attention please, this is your captain speaking. It is safe to say that we're finally out of the storm. All crew member are free to leave their seats and roam the ship if they want to...although, I doubt any of you were actually in your seats in the first place."

The voice mumbled the last sentenced.

"Are you alright?" Kirito said after the voice finished speaking.

I don't respond this time. I just stare at Kirito. Where did that voice come from? I heard a voice yet I couldn't see anyone saying them? The voice echoed through the room? Rooms don't shake nor do they speak...right? How can a room shake or talk like that? How do I know if this room is actually real? How do I know if these...people are actually-

I slowly turn my head to Kirito, hesitantly reach out with my hand...touch Kirito's cheek. It feels soft and so real.

I softly pinch it.

The girl with the purplish black hair. Kirito's cheek feels like hers...but it's somehow different.

I pinch it again.

Yeah it definitely feels different to the girl with the purplish black hair. Although it does feel very smooth.

Yu leans over to Sinon, still looking wide-eyed at me, and whispers. "What is she doing?"

After a while, Yuri guessed it by looking at my expression of disbelief. "Oh I know what's she doing."

"I see it too." Shinoa whispered back. "She fell in love with Kirito at first sight and now she's harassing him."

Yuri glares at Shinoa, making her wave her arms defensively. "It was a joke jeez."

Yuri sighs before looking back at me. "Hey Rin!"

I stop daydreaming and look back at Yuri. My face turns red from embarrassment.

"This isn't a dream if that's what you're thinking." Yuri explained. It seemed Yuri wanted to say something else but then decided against it.

Dream... That's right. I completely forgot- no, I was questioning their existence. Once again, I thought this was just all a memory and that I was going to wake up alone any moment now. But...that'll never happen because...this is real. I really need to stop doubting reality.

I look down, a bit ashamed of myself.

Kirito smiles. "It's okay, I can understand your fear. After all, we are 40,000 feet above the ground."

I tilt my head in confusion and slowly point my finger at my feet. 40,000 feet... That's a lot of feet. Wait, a foot has five toes right...so how many toes is that?

"No not that type of feet." Kirito said waving his hand. "It's the height distance from the ground to this ship."

I look at him completely lost.

Kirito sighs. "I'll explain it another time."

The conversation after that was full of questions. They asked me a lot of questions about me and whether I remember anything: Do you know where you come from? Do you have any family members? Do you know how you got here?

Of course they could only ask Yes or No question since I could only nod or shake my head. But it was obvious that they wanted to ask a lot more questions that needed more than a simple yes or no answer.

At first I was nervous especially with Black still glaring at me. Black remained silent for the entire conversation, her eyes didn't even blink. But afterwards, I found myself actually enjoying this. Enjoying talking to other people even though I couldn't say anything. I was enjoying other people's company, other people's voices and just looking at them smile, laugh and giggle.

I even learned a little bit about each person: Their personalities, what they like and somehow, their favourite colours.

Sometimes questions would lead off topic and the group of people would end up having this casual conversation or arguments with me just spectating, I didn't really get what they were saying most of the time though since they kept saying long words that I didn't understand. I didn't mind it though, I enjoyed watching them talk and argue a bit.

The door to the room opened by itself and Kanade came back holding a tray of...things.

"I brought you food." Kanade said with a straight face. She sets the tray in front of me.

Food? What is- wait, I remember now, people need to eat in order to live. But I never ate when I was in that world.

I stare at contents of the tray with a blank expression not moving my hands. There's a spoon on the right side of the tray, a glass of water, a piece of bread and a plate filled with...stuff. There's white stuff and other things.

Shinoa looked at her friends and whispered. "Does she know how to eat?"

"It's rice and curry." Kirito said answering my unsaid question. "Don't worry it's safe to eat."

I continue to stare at Kirito and then back at the tray. I'm still not sure why but I trusted Kirito's words.

With a shaky hand, I pick up the glass of water...water, most of the things I created back in that world sometimes involved a lot of water: Oceans, Rivers and pools.

So seeing this much water in one place seemed small. If I remember correctly, water is not only for swimming but for drinking as well.

My hands still shaking, I place the glass near my mouth and drink.

It wasn't until the cold liquid poured down my throat, I realised how dry and thirsty I felt. I ended up drinking half of the water in the cup.

I then hesitantly picked up the piece of bread...

(FLASHBACK)

The table was enough for a whole family yet only two figures sat there.

Decorations and party food was set all over the table. Despite the lack of people, the sound of laughter, smiles and joy filled the room.

I reach out with my tiny hand and grab the ribbon. The present wasn't wrapped too hard, but it wasn't wrapped too loose so I wouldn't lose the privilege of opening it. The present was perfectly wrapped just for me.

With my tiny hands, I untie the ribbon bit by bit, each second filled me with excitement.

After the red ribbon was out of the way, I pull the lid open and what I saw inside made my smile grow wider.

It was a teddy bear.

I pick the teddy bear up and smile brighter than ever. I immediately hugged it as tight as I can: it was already one of my most precious items.

"Happy birthday Rin."

I smile at him and proudly present my present to him even though he was the one who gave it to me. It wasn't to show off really, it was more like showing him that I was happy and more than grateful with my gift.

Our happiness was like a chain reaction. Whenever one would smile, the other would copy. We both laugh and giggle.

"Okay now, time to put the teddy bear away." His voice was gentle and it brought comfort to my ears. "Do you want some cake?"

I nod my head eagerly, my excitement grew every second.

He smiled at me before cutting a piece of cake and giving it to me with a white plastic spoon.

I ignore the spoon and grabbed the cake with my entire hand causing the icing to spatter all over my tiny hands and clothes.

I stare at the cake admiring it for a moment. I then open my mouth...

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

and bite into the piece of bread. My teeth crushes through the crust, crumbs sprinkle over my grey nightgown and blankets. I thought the whole thing was only to be crusty but turns out there's this soft substance inside the bread.

Bread. I remember now, my dad would give me all sorts of food including bread. That was so long ago.

I chew the bitten piece in my mouth bit by bit. A new yet familiar taste fills in my mouth. It wasn't delicious nor was it disgusting. It was just...bread. Real bread.

I take another bite. Chewing the contents in my mouth really slowly before swallowing with a big and a bit forced gulp.

Yu looks awkwardly at his friends. "Should we really be watching her while she eats?"

"Yeah, I don't know about you guys but I feel like a stalker right now." Shinoa joked.

Kirito ignored her joke and looks closely at me. "Are you...crying."

My eyes widened a bit. I put my hand on my eye. True to his word, there was small tears dripping down my cheek.

"Here." Kirito pulls out a handkerchief and whips away my tears. "It's alright, don't cry, everything's going to be okay." He said as he wiped my tears.

His voice was gentle and it brought comfort to my ears...just like...just like my d-

Black suddenly moves. No longer leaning against the wall, she walks towards the door. The door opens for her automatically and she walks through, stopping at the doorway.

Before leaving, she turns her head and looks at us. "I'll be in the Main Bridge Room."

That was all she said before leaving. I had mixed feelings about that, yes she scares me but now that she's gone, the wall she was leaning against almost looks empty. I'm quite curious as well.

"Yeah I think I'll leave too." Sinon said. "It seems there's nothing else to converse about for now."

"What time is it?" Yuri began rubbing her stomach. "I haven't had lunch yet."

"There's more curry in the cafeteria." Kanade pointed out his face still unreadable.

"This ship has a cafeteria?!" Yu exclaims.

Kanade nods. "It's very small though."

Cafeteria? I wonder what that is. Sounds interesting.

"I'll show you." Yuri said heading for the door. "Come on let's go. Shinoa, Kanade, you coming? You guys haven't had lunch either right?"

Shinoa looks at me with great interest before looking back at Yuri. "I think I'll stay."

"Me too." Kanade said.

Yuri shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"See you later Rin." Sinon gives me a little wave, I wave back in response.

With that, Yu, Yuri and Sinon left. The room looks really empty now. Almost seems...lonely now. It's funny, you would think I would've been used to it by now.

"You should probably finished that before it gets cold." Kanade said pointing at my food.

I snap out of my daydream and look back at my food. I can see the faint outline of steam coming from the food.

I reach out my hand and grab a chunk of rice only to let go because of how hot it was. After touching the hot food, a strange and unpleasant feeling rushes through my hand. A feeling I had never felt before. Whatever it was, the feeling brought discomfort.

"Oh be careful it's hot. Are you okay?" Kirito ask.

I seize my right hand with my other hand trying to stop the soreness. Why does my hand feel like this?

Eventually the feeling went away and my hand felt normal.

"Does she know how to use a spoon?" Shinoa whisperer which Kanade shrugs in response.

"Here." Kirito points at the spoon next to the plate. "You have to use that. I can teach you how to use it."

I stare at the metal spoon. I remember what it is but at the same time I don't know how to use it. I don't think I've ever got to use one before.

Although, I think I get what it's used for. From the looks of it, it seems to be use for scooping food...I think. I'm not sure actually.

Testing my thought: I grab the handle of the spoon with five of my fingers.

My hand forms a knuckle and the handle of the spoon is in it.

My hand still shaky and weak: I reach in and scoop in a bit of rice and curry. As I bring the spoon closer to my mouth I can feel the heat emitting from it. I open my mouth and-

"You may want to blow on it first." Kirito points out just before I was about to put the whole spoon into my mouth. "You might burn your burn otherwise."

I look at Kirito and tilt my head for almost the tenth time.

Blow? Why blow? Is it suppose to help? Well if Kirito says so then I guess it's fine.

I open my mouth and...blow?

Strange, I can easily blow air out of my mouth but why not words?

I shrugs the question off for the moment continue to blow. As I blow, I look around the room: Kanade is looking at a screen, Kirito and Shinoa were still looking at me with great interest.

Since the room kept shaking before, I never really took time to take in the full contents of the room. The room is small yet a bit bigger than my room. There's no chairs or any furniture making the room look empty. Stuck to the ceiling there's these flat, white, rectangles emitting light. There's nothing on the walls other than metal. Next to me, where Kanade is, there's this computer and lots of these monitor screens with lots of buttons and switches although I didn't know what any of them meant. Of course, there's still that machine next to me that keeps going *Beep*... *Beep*... *Beep*

"I think that's enough." Kirito said pointing at my spoon that still contains the small piece of rice and curry whatever that is.

It was hard using the spoon and moving it but I still managed. I open my mouth and place the spoon in my mouth transporting the food into my mouth.

My eyes widen as warm flavour and taste floods from within my mouth.

I chew...It's like nothing I've taste before. Then again, it's been a while since I've tasted

I chew again...combine with the unique taste and the warmth of the food.

I chew once more...it was like my mouth was being painted over with new feeling. I was already imagining all the bright colours that must've been present in my mouth.

I swallow admiring the feeling as it went down my throat. I look back at the food with imaginary stars in my eyes.

This was all new. Rice and curry, at first I thought I had faint memories of them back in my past but after tasting...this is all new. You would think I would've been used to it by now.

Shinoa grinned for seeing me eating was somehow able to amuse her. "I never thought I would see the day I meet a person who enjoys plane food this much. You know you're eating instant food right?"

I look at her with the emotion that has stuck to my face ever since I woke up: Confusion.

Shinoa just giggles while Kirito just smiles. Kanade continues to study the screen in front of her, glancing at me every so often.

The rest of the meal, I just recently discovered that is was call lunch, was pretty casual. Despite how tasty it was, I patiently waited after each spoon, blowing on them carefully because I didn't want to 'burn my tongue' which is what Kirito said. Eventually the food cooled down to point where I didn't need to blow anymore.

Kirito and Shinoa casually conversed with each other while I ate. Like last time, I would remain silent during their conversation but of course I didn't mind. In a way, I feel like even if I was able to talk, I would still remain silent during these conversation. Mostly because I didn't get half of things they were saying. From what I gathered, Shinoa kept teasing Kirito about him cheating on his... 'wife' whatever that is. Although seeing Kirito's reactions, their friendly arguments and Shinoa's grin made me laugh a bit.

Laugh. It's been a while since I've laughed and giggled. This wasn't a new feeling. It was familiar. Very familiar. When was the last time I...Dad. I remember now, the last time I laughed like this was with my dad. The happy memories of Dad and I flood back into my mind. It was so long ago, I actually never thought I would laugh ever again but Shinoa's laugh and giggles while she teased Kirito were so contagious I couldn't help myself, even Kanade smiled for a split second.

Speaking of which, Kanade's smile. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Her smile was so brief that you wouldn't notice unless you were looking closely at her. But most of the time she just continued to look at a screen giving me a few glances from time to time with that expressionless face. There was this one time where she looked really shocked at something but that only happened once.

Other than that, she didn't say much. It was fascinating, Kanade didn't talk much and her expression was always so unreadable...yet, she was so different to Black.

Kanade didn't say much until after I finished eating.

By now, the piece of bread was already gone. I scoop up the last bits of the curry that still remains and place it into my mouth, savouring every second that it was in my mouth. I then grab the glass drink the last remains of the water and let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Here let me take that." Kirito said taking the tray away. He approaches the wall, he presses a red button and the lid to a small compartment opens. He places the tray inside the compartment and the lid closes.

I look at the wall where I last saw the tray before shrugging it off, I shouldn't be surprise by now. Besides, there other things I need to do like exploring this place.

I yawn and stretch my arms before moving my body to the edge of the bed- only to gently push back by Kirito.

"Whoa, you can't get up now. Your body still needs rest." Kirito spoke now looking at me bit concerned.

At first I was really confuse but then I look at him with sad eyes. He has a point, the last time I tried to get off this bed it didn't end well. But I want to explore, sitting here doing nothing doesn't feel right for me. I need to move but at the same time my body feels weak.

I look at Shinoa who just shrugs. "Sorry Rin, his right you need to-"

"Actually she can if she wants to." Kanade suddenly spoke interrupting Shinoa.

We all look at her, a glimmer of hope flashes threw my eyes while Shinoa and Kirito were just confused.

"What do you mean?" Shinoa asks.

"H-her body..." Kanade began before stopping to think, it seems she wasn't believing herself. She then points at a screen that had some sort of skeleton on it. "Her body has...healed drastically since we last took her out of her ship."

"Really? Let me see that?" Kirito said walking to Kanade's side to look, Shinoa peeks over his shoulder to look as well.

For a moment, I just stare at them as they stare at the screen. Did I do something wrong? They seem really shock. What if they trust me anymore. But why? What's on that screen that makes them so surprise. I'm not hiding anything, I just can't talk that's all. I would've tell them all I know if I could talk properly. I can barely say my name at least.

"Are you sure it isn't just a malfunction?" Shinoa asks.

"This equipment is brand new, I highly doubt that." Kirito replies.

"From the looks of it." Kanade said. "Her body seems fine and normal. Her spine is somehow aligned and her rib cage, heart and lungs seem to have...fixed themselves. The only problem is that it seems extremely weak especially her legs. In terms of health, Rin actually might need the exercise."

"Well, I guess that explains why she is able to move." Kirito said.

"So what? Are we just going to ignore the fact that all of Rin's gastrointestinal issues just healed instantly in less than a day." Shinoa asks. I didn't understand what she was saying though.

"We have people to figure that out." Kirito said placing his hand beneath his chin. "We'll report it and see what they think. But do you really think that removing Rin from this bed will help her?"

Kanade nods.

Shinoa seems a bit skeptical. "Well...she does seem eager to get off."

I continue to look at the three. I didn't understand most of the things they were saying so I just look at their faces looking for any sign of trust.

They then turn and look at me making me jump. I shift uncomfortably beneath the white blanket as they look at me.

Shinoa suddenly smiles. "Looks like it's your lucky day Rin! Were getting you off that bed."

I smile with excitement and my eyes grow a bit wider.

Shinoa grins after seeing my face before raising her hand telling me to wait. "But first." She pulls out a small bottle the size of her palm. It was green and had a words on it that I did not understand.

"I need you to drink this. It may not taste nice but we need you to drink this if were going to remove those." She pointed at the white tube things that were attach to my arms.

I hesitantly nod, not understanding what her motives are. Shinoa opens the lid of the small container and hands it to me.

I take it slowly and look: There's a liquid in the bottle although since the bottle was opaque I couldn't tell what colour it was.

The drink had a weird smell to it despite the fact that the small amount.

I take in a deep breath and drink the whole thing in one gulp.

A new taste dances inside my mouth: Bitter.

It was bitter but at the same time it had a unique taste to it. After I swallow it, I look back at Kirito, Shinoa and Kanade.

They were looking back at me as though they were expecting something to happen.

I stare back at them confusingly. What were they waiting for? What did that drink have to do with me getting off this bed? I can't see how a drink is suppose to remove these tube things-

My head suddenly feels drowsy. My head starts swaying left to right.

I feel...sleepy?

But why? I can't sleep yet, the day hasn't ended yet and I still don't know what that drink did to me.

My eyes starts flickering.

I start struggling to keep my eyes open. No this can't be happening. I still have so much to explore and find out. I can't sleep now. I just discovered so many new things today. Met so many people. Other people. Real people and not my creation. It's too soon I can't- wait, what if this really was just a long dream...and that I was going to wake back in my room...alone.

No, it can't be.

The machine next to me was now beeping louder and faster. It was loud but it helped me to stay awake.

I-I still...have so many... question. No. No. No. Why?

The machine beeps even louder but my visions becomes blurry.

Why? What's happening to me? Was this all really fake No. I just want-

A pair of familiar warm hands are gently placed on my shoulders. "It's okay."

I look and saw...someone.

"It's okay, it'll be alright...you can rest."

His voice was gentle and brought comfort to my ears.

Giving up to the sleepiness, my eyes slowly close until met with darkness.

The last thing I saw was a blurry image of a man with short black hair.

...

Dad?

* * *

Rin's Room

I my eyes flicker but slowly open. The familiar ceiling. The comfortable bed. My normal clothes.

I'm back in my room.

I raise my hand and touch my forehead.

I guess it really was a dream.

A wave of mixed emotions floods from within my body. Here I thought, things were actually going to change. Things were still the same.

I sit up and look for my tablet. Once again, I find it under the covers.

Instead of opening it straight away, I hold it with both my hands to take in the familiar feel of it.

I have mixed feelings about seeing this tablet again.

I stare at it...for some reason I was expecting something to happen. Anything. Some sort of sign or maybe a message.

I almost laugh at myself. I tap my finger on the tablet.

*No messages in 8 days*

I sigh. Look at the bright side: Now that I'm back in this world, I might see that girl with the purplish-black hair again.

With new hope, I smile and get ready.

I turn to side of the bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, my feet touch the warm floor of my room.

I stare at the floor and think.

That was some dream. I had a dream about...what was it about again? Oh yeah it was about...me... meeting other people. Yeah, I met other people besides the purplish-black haired girl.

Are dreams always like this?

Because...the people...they all... they all seemed so...real. They each looked different and he even had his own...his own...name?

Name.

I put both hands on my head and try to remember...he had a name...right? Are dreams suppose to make up names for you? I'm not sure.

Name...his name- no...their names. They had names.

Names.

My eyes widen a bit as realization pours over my head.

Yu, Shinoa, Kanade, Yuri, Sinon, Black and...Kirito.

Wait that doesn't make sense. How can I remeber that? I thought dreams were suppose to be hard to remember...or are they? I'm not sure. It was a really long dream though. There was so much detail in it aswell.

In the dream, I was in a strange room and there was a door that could open by itself. I should try copy that today and see if I can clearly picture it.

Yeah...that's what I'll do today. I'll try make a replica of the room that I saw in my dream.

In this world that belongs to me.

I take in a deep breath before looking up from the floor and stand up to face the middle of the room.

My eyes widen in pure shock and my body instinctively jumps backwards into the bed. Like a jolt of electricity going through my body, I back away until I hit the wall of my room.

I stare back at them.

There were two other people in my room: One of them wore a _black_ and _red_ coat with a hood hiding his face and the other wore the same thing but his clothes were _blue_ and _white._

I couldn't see their faces but I recognise one of them: The one wearing blue and white...I've seen him before.

When the countdown hited zero. When I got that email that wasn't from my dad. Right before everything turned to darkness...I saw him. He was outside my room just before everything turned to black.

But instead of being outside my room in the void of emptiness this time...he was literally inside my room with another person.

Both of them stood on the opposite side of me and was looking right at me. Despite their hoods hiding their faces, I could feel their eyes staring at me.

There was silence and my shock soon turns into confusion. Were they here the whole time? Why are they staring at me? Who are these people?

"Who we are is not relevant for now." The one who wearing blue and white suddenly spoke almost making my heart flip. It was a boy's voice.

"Hello Rin." The one who wore red and black began, he too had the voice of a boy. "Did you enjoy your little...trip?"

I stare at both of them. How does he know my name? How did they get here? Are they real? Is this another dream? What if everything was just a-

"Yes and No." The one who wore blue and white spoke again. "Yes, that was dream..but it wasn't false. Kirito and all those other people are real, I can assure you that."

Their real? So all of that wasn't fake. I was actually there talking to other people...but then, why am I back here?

"You're back here because we want to ask you a question." The one who wore black and red said with a hint of amusement. "Tell me Rin, have you ever asked yourself? What will become of me from now on?"

I sat there for a moment before my eyes widened in realization.

Those words...where have I heard them before? My memories suddenly flashed back when I received that message that wasn't from my dad. My eyes widen...they were the one who sent that message.

I slowly nod.

The one who wore black and red...I could feel him grinning now. "Well today is your lucky day...because now you get to chose the answer to that question."

I look at him confusingly. I don't understand.

He chuckled. "We have come to you with an offer. What you just witnessed was just a... _preview_ of what we can give you. But whether you see the full version of it is up to you. You see Rin, as you figured out before, you were in a whole different world. A world completely different to the one you and your dad lived in. There are much more people to meet in that world, more new things to discover and learn. You _finally_ won't be alone..."

The boy's voice grew much darker when he emphasized the word "finally". The boy who wore blue and white remained quiet.

"But is that _really_ what you want?" The boy finished with this last statement.

I blink twice and then blink one more time just to be sure I wasn't seeing things...or hearing things at that fact. Too nervous to even move my body, I ponder on his question.

A tornado of questions whirls around in my brain:

What does he mean by that? Why are you asking me? Is it really my choice? But why? Is it worth asking? Of course I want to-

"Perhaps you're not clear of dilemma that's standing right in front of you." The black and red one stood up and slowly walked towards me. "Entering this new world will introduce a variety of new discoveries and feelings. Feelings you've never experienced before...that includes the negative ones. You know when you burned your tongue...oh that's nothing compare to the possibilities...imagine what would've happen if Kirito wasn't there to catch you, has it ever caught your curiosity of what might've happened if Kirito was just a second late."

I stare at him. His presence itself was enough to keep me frozen, shivering in fear and confusion.

"Allow me to make the question more simplier for you: Rin, do you really want to leave this place?" He took another step towards me while the blue and white one remained silent still staring at me. "I mean think about it, this world is the definition of perfect. You don't feel anything, you don't have to deal with any sort of problems, you basically own everything and you can create anything you want."

The boy's grin turns more darkener.

"And let's not forget your dad."

My eyes widened in pure shock as the one who wore red and black was now standing right in from of my bed, looking down at me.

"You got your memories back right? Even if you do have the mind of a seven year old, you should know well enough that your dad sacrificed his life to make this digital world for you, leaving this world would mean throwing all your dad's precious work in bin...I'm going to ask you one last time..."

He added a dramatic pause before saying.

"Rin, do you _really_ want to leave this place?"

Both afraid and dismayed, I placed both hands on my head as the boy's words continued to messed with my head. This boy brought fear but I couldn't help but think his right.

My dad created this world for me. He would've wanted me to stay here and be safe. The boy who wore black and red even said there were feelings much worse then just burning your tongue, what if it's really dangerous out there? If I died then all of my dad's hard work would...would...

I look up at the boy who wore black and red. His hood covered his face but he was obviously grinning triumphantly at me.

Staring at him only encouraged my current thought: Maybe I should stay. Like he said, my dad worked really hard to for me stay alive and he wouldn't want me to leave. If he was here, he would've denied their offer and continue life here...right?

I turn my head and look at the boy who were blue and white. His face was also covered by his hood but...

He was staring at me intensely...

...

My eyes widen as I realise.

My dad would've wanted me to stay here? How could I ever think that? My dad didn't make this world for me _just_ because he wanted me to stay alive...he wants me to move forwards. Look towards the future. He sacrificed his life for me so I could continue to believe in the future not so I could stay trap in here forever. My happiness was always the most important thing to my dad.

He would've wanted me to have a future and this world isn't my future. My dad made this world not so I could live my happiness here, it was so I could survive until the chance finally comes.

That chance was now.

I slowly put my arms down and look back at the boy who were blue and white. His face was also covered by his hood but...I could somehow see he was smiling gently at me.

Staring at him only encouraged my new current thought: I do.

"Be careful what you chose Rin." The boy stared back at me clearly amused. "Are you sure this is the choice you want to make?"

I stare back at the boy who wore black and red with determination

I do. It's what my dad would've wanted and nothing you say is going to change that.

The boy seemed to be surprised for a moment but his shock quickly turned into amusement. "Suit yourself."

He turned around and slowly walked away.

"One more thing before I go. Whether you like it or not, we'll meet again in the future. In ways you won't expect."

He was suddenly engulfed in a red and black light and when that light faded...he was gone.

The only people left in the room was me and the boy who wore blue and white who .

I stare at him with curiosity. Unlike the other one, the boy's presence brought comfort instead of fear.

I look at him.

What's your name?

"You'll find that out eventually." The boy replied.

When will that be?

"When the time comes."

Oh okay...so what now?

"You're going to wake up... But there's one thing you need to do if you want that to happen."

I stare at him confusingly.

What is it?

"This machine is voice-protected in other words I need you to provide a sample of your voice in order to make this work."

I stare at him even more confusingly.

"I need you to say your name."

For a moment, I stare at him not understanding what he meant.

Say my name? That's all it takes?

The boy nods.

Okay then.

I open my mouth to say my name but no sound was heard.

My voice was still gone. I couldn't say my name.

But why? I could say it earlier right? Why can't I say it now.

I start panicking. After so long, a chance finally comes and I'm about to ruin it just because I couldn't find my voice.

I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder.

It took me a second to realise the boy who wore blue and white was right in front of me now. "It's okay, take you time. Calm down, take a deep breath."

I follow his advice and calm myself down one breath after another.

I then take a deep breath and-

"R-Rrr..."

The boy waited patiently.

"Rr-Rrr-Ri..."

I can't do it.

"You can." The boy countered. "You just need to relaxed."

I nod slowly and follow his advice.

It started to feel tiring but I continued.

"Rr-Ri...Ri..."

My throat starts getting really dry and I start getting nervous.

"Ri-Ri..."

I stop to take a short break to pant for a few seconds, the nervousness was slowly taking over. I then take in a deep breath and-

"You made a wise choice today. Your dad would've been proud of you."

"R-Rin."

At the mention of my name, my room started to shake and a computer voice was heard saying.

" **Voice recognised.** "

" **Permission has been granted."**

" **Beginning countdown.** "

I was scared but and I clung onto my tablet...

 _I remember seeing a strange looking block._

" **7** "

I wanted my teddy bear but it was sitting across the room...

 _I remember seeing some sort of bed and a girl was laying down on it._

" **6** "

The boy place another hand on my shoulder. "It's okay."

 _I remember seeing a small thin board, the top bit had black and white stripes. I also saw a lot of cameras._

" **5** "

"It's alright... go to sleep."

 _I remember seeing a door that lead to a house that looked similar to the house my dad and I used to live in._

" **4** "

My eyes start feeling drowsy...

 _I remember grabbing the purplish-black haired girl's hand and seeing some sort of school with the letters "AAA"_

" **3** "

My vision starts getting blurry, the boys comforting hands were still on my shoulders...

 _I remember giving my tablet to the_ _purplish-black haired girl and seeing a lot of people._

" **2** "

The sound of the room shaking viciously was drowned as my eyes slowly closed...

 _The last thing I remember was seeing...me hanging out with the purplish-black haired girl...we looked happy._

" **1** "

The last thing I saw was the boy who wore a blue and white coat with a hood that covered his face before my vision faded into black.

" **Commence Landing...** "

* * *

 **In The Middle of the Desert**

"It's very small considering-" Kirito didn't finish his sentence as the spacecraft in front of them emitted a groan of mechanism.

"What's wrong?" Shinoa asked using the comlinks on their ears as she noticed Kirito had stopped.

"It's opening" Kirito replied briefly.

"What do you mean it's opening?" Yuri asked.

"The door of the ship is opening." Yuichiro answered this time.

Sinon looked at the spacecraft with the scope on her sniper gun. "I have visuals, should I shoot?"

"WAIT!" Kirito yelled before Sinon could pull the trigger.

The door of the small spacecraft opens and lots of smoke appears.

With their swords in hand, Kirito and Yuichiro approach the spacecraft.

As the smoke cleared and they got closer. Their eyes widened

"What's wrong Kirito?" Kanade asked.

"It's...It's..." Yuichiro began, finding it very difficult to find the right words. What he was seeing now was the last thing he expected to see.

"Eh?" Shinoa asked. "I'm sorry can you please repeat that?"

"It's a girl..." Kirito began taking a closer look. "and she's still breathing!"

Sinon took a closer look with her scope. She was calm but a bit shocked at the view. "Oh my gosh you're right."

"Is she hostile?" Yuri asked.

"Not sure." Kirito didn't want to jump to conclusion. The crash landing of the ship created a crater that had around 100 meters in diameter. Lucky it was in the middle of the desert where no one lived. "She's unconscious though and a lot of wires are attached to her."

"WAIT! DON'T DO ANYTHING!"

A man had come out of the ship. The man was bald, had an extremely large nose and wore a lab coat.

"What are you doing?!" Yuri exclaimed thinking the scientist was crazy to enter an area that had the possibilities of turning into a warzone. "Go back to the ship. It might be dangerous."

"I somehow doubt that." The scientist grabbed our binoculars and took a closer look. After a while, he started walking towards the middle of the crater where Kirito and Yu were. "Everyone! Follow me!"

"That guy is insane." Yuri commented.

"How was he dragged here again?" Shinoa asked.

"He volunteered." Kanade replied before following after the scientist.

Black followed after and the rest soon followed.

After five to ten minutes, Kirito, Sinon, Shinoa, Yu, Kanade, Yuri and the scientist approached the ship.

"So what do we do?" Yu asked as he looked at the small spacecraft. It was quite small and a lot of blinking lights on it. It looked like some sort of advance escape pod because the spacecraft seemed to only fit one person. It was in the shape of a chair in Yu's opinion.

The scientist didn't answer for he was too deep in thought. He looked at Kanade who was scanning the girl with a small device. The girl had multiple wires attached to her skin and was in a slouching position.

Everyone decided to ignore the fact that the girl was naked for this wasn't time to think about immature thoughts. All the wires attached to the girl distract that thought anyway.

"What's her status?" The scientist asked.

"Her body seems stable and clean but extremely weak." Kanade replied.

The scientist hums in concentration. "That makes sense, it seems this girl has been on this escape pod for a while and body that doesn't move in a long period of time usually experience difficulties. "

"How long do you think she's been in there?" Kirito asked out curiosity.

"Judging from her looks..." the scientist observed the sleeping girl. "Probably weeks...months even."

"Ouch." Shinoa commented. "Slouching like that for that long must be really unforgettable."

"Shouldn't we...take her out then?" Yu asked concerned for the girl.

"No." The scientist replied looking at the wires attached to her body. "Not now, removing her from this spacecraft will require careful procedure..."

There was a moment of silence to let the scientist think.

After a while, the scientist came a conclusion.

"Bring her into the ship."

"Are you sure about that?" Yuri countered instantly. "What if she's carrying a new-"

"The scans say she's perfectly healthy." Kanade interrupted. "This spacecraft also seems to be equipped with no weapons meaning it entered our planet unarmed."

Kanade had a point. Yuri still wasn't sure but now that she thought about...what else were they suppose to do. Everyone else in the group seemed to have no objections.

The scientist looks at Kirito who nods back at him.

Kirito raised his Dark Repulser and stabs it into the ground. He faced his comrades and ordered. "Set up the field."

Black remained still as Kanade, Yuri, Yu and Shinoa pulled out some sort of disk. Sinon's sniper gun was still pointed at the girl for they didn't want to take any risk.

The four of them threw the disks into the sky and instantly the disk started flying.

The disk flew around and created a square perimeter around the ship and the escape pod that contained the girl.

Within the perimeter of this square, a digital field was created.

Everyone except for Black and the scientist dropped their weapons and looked at their wrist.

A holographic screen the size of an tablet emerged from Kirito's bracelet.

On the screen, there was already a picture of Kirito's Dark Repulser. Taking out a holographic pen, Kirito erased the picture of his dark repulser and at the same time, the Dark Repulser that was stabbed into the ground dispersed into millions and millions of pixels.

The scientist watched while Black didn't let her guard down just in case.

Just like a Kirito, a monitor screen appeared on the wrist of Kanade, Yuri, Yu, Shinoa and Sinon.

All six of them knew the drill. They each took out a holographic pen, _erased_ their weapons and started drawing.

As they drew, hundreds and hundreds of pixels started gathering together to create what they were drawing.

All six of them worked together to draw. The technology they were using wouldn't work unless the drawing was as detailed as possible after all.

After a while, the creation was finally finished.

Shinoa, who was timing the whole thing, was really impressed. "That took quicker than expected! That only took half an hour! Impressive."

"It's the new version after all." Yu replied. "Before you know it, creating something like this will take minutes."

"You're exaggerating." Yuri countered. "We'll have to wait at least another ten years until that happens."

"Couldn't we have drawn something more...pretty." Shinoa said.

In the middle of the crater, standing in front of escape pod was a grey, giant, rock golem.

"We had no time for that." Kanade replied. "We had to draw something simple and a rock golem is one of the simplest to do."

"It was a rhetorical question." Shinoa said.

Kirito looked at the picture of the extremely detailed rock golem and tapped it.

The words:

 **Biotic Programming**

appeared on the drawing of the golem and Kirito went straight into controlling the golem.

The rock golem slowly took a step forward and another towards the escape pod.

Kirito became extremely cautious when the rock golem reached the escape pod. With very careful movements, Kirito made the rock golem pick up the spacecraft gently so that he wouldn't hurt the girl who was sleeping in the spacecraft.

With Kirito still controlling it, the golem turned around very slowly and gently headed towards the ship.

"Alright everyone! Were heading out!" Yuri exclaimed. "Kotori just told me we might be heading straight through a storm so everyone better stay fastened in their seats."

"That's it?" Yu asked. It way too quick, everyone here came to this to location preparing for a fight against what they thought was the beginning of an invasion but instead they found this girl.

"You seem disappointed?" Shinoa asked back.

"Well you know..." Yu tried to find the right words. "Our mission was to take care of the 'hostile' entity that had entered our planet. I thought we were going to we were going an alien."

Black looked up at the girl sleeping in the pod which was being carried by the giant rock golem. "I think we already have."

* * *

Inside the ship, everyone gathered around the pod.

"Where do you think she's from?" Yu asked.

"Don't know." The scientist said looking at a monitor screen. "She appears to be human yet..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

Kanade continued to scan the girl's body, checking to see any issues.

The bald scientist had already tried to access the machine's systems but all of his attempts were denied.

"Guess we'll have to remove her manually." The scientist concluded. He appeared to be calm but couldn't help feel like something was odd about the girl in terms of her health.

Kirito approached the sleeping girl putting everyone on guard.

"Be careful Kirito." Sinon warned him.

Kirito didn't say anything and continued to look at the girl. Despite the fact she was sleeping peacefully, the girl looked...sad...really sad.

Kirito couldn't put a word around it but he almost felt sorry for the girl. Next to the sleeping girl was a teddy bear and that alone was enough to prove to Kirito that there was nothing dangerous about this girl.

He didn't why but he suddenly had an urge to comfort the girl.

Kirito reached for the girl...and touched her cheek.

Suddenly, the small spacecraft that contained the girl made a loud mechanical noise. Noises that sounded like it was readjusting itself or something like that.

Black Rock Shooter, out of instincts, summoned her rock cannon and pointed it at the sleeping girl.

"WAIT!" Kirito yelled putting his hand up like a stop sign while still looking at the girl.

The machine fell silent and a big red button was blinking rapidly.

Everyone tensed not knowing what to do.

After a short moment of silence.

"Well don't just stand there." Shinoa said. "Press it and see what happens."

"I swear your curiosity will be the end of you one day." Yuri commented.

Following Shinoa's advice, Kirito raised his hand and...he hesitated for a moment...before he finally pressed it.

A series of images flashed through Kirito's vision. The images went by one by one so fast that Kirito didn't have time to process what they were. All he could gather from the images was that there was a man and a child.

" _I'll be leaving her in your care now."_

The machine made a lot of futuristic sounds that eventually faded and died down. All the blinking lights on the pod turned off and the entire pod completely switched off.

The wires made an electrical sound and vibrated rapidly before they detached themselves until the girl was free from the wires.

The pod switched off and turned completely back as silence filled the atmosphere.

Suddenly, the device Kanade was using to scan the girl's body was blinking a dangerous colour of red and she was getting a series of reports that made Kanade's eyes widened a bit.

"What's wrong?!" Yu asked alarmed.

"Sightings of gastrointestinal issues and a series of spine, bone, rib cage and a series of other problems have been sighted." Kanade summarised.

"Just what I thought." The scientist said. "It seemed odd why the girl's body was so healthy and clean despite the large amount time this girl must've spent sleeping in that pod. Her body was completely stable and it seems the wires attached to her were keeping it that way...now that she's been detached-"

Kirito turned around and exclaimed. "GET HER TO THE MEDICAL BAY, NOW!"

* * *

My eyes flicker but slowly open. I'm back in my room- Wait a minute...why is the ceiling a different colour? Why does everything feel different?

I don't know, my vision is a bit blurry so I can't tell. My bed feels different though. The air also feels different. My...body feels different. For some reason my body feels heavier. I try move my head to look around but when I do a weird and unpleasant feeling rushes through my head. This is new.

I blink a few times before my eyes finally adjust to the room. When I can finally look around clearly my eyes widened a bit.

Where am I?

Everything is...everything is so different. There's not one thing I see that I can recognize- no wait, I remember now...I'm back in this room. The room where I met... Kirito and the others.

But what happened?

Did I fall asleep- no wait, that's right...Shinoa gave me that strange drink and I fell asleep.

My eyes travel the room left to right. I'm the only person in the room. I wonder where they are?

I think about the situation:

My tablet still isn't here.

Those tube things are still attached to my arm.

The room is softly shaking...didn't it stop shaking before?

My eyes turn to the side and I see my teddy bear and...

I couldn't move my body. That's strange, I was able to move before right? Why does my body feel weaker now.

Why can't I move?

I open my mouth to say my name but no sound came out of my mouth.

Why is this happening again? Didn't I already...

Realising I probally wasn't going to get an answer, I take in a deep breath before I could start panicking.

I've done this before, I can do it again.

From there, I went through the same thing I did before. I concentrate on one arm...but nothing moves. I keep trying but then the room suddenly shakes more roughly making me stop until the shaking calmed down.

I keep going until it twitches and keep going until I can fully use my arm.

It took a while and my arm stills feels very weak.

I turn my head and a strange and uncomfortable feeling rushes through my neck but I endure it.

With my barely, moveable and shaky hand, I reach for my teddy bear and slowly grab it and pull it towards my chest.

After hugging it with one arm to make me feel better, I continue to my other body parts.

Despite having done it before, it still took just as long.

My other arm was really hard to move and somehow it even felt longer than last time.

After a series of twitching, focusing, taking in deep breaths, the room shaking, panting and stretching.

I finally sit up. Like last time, as I sit up, the upper bit of the bed moves upwards making it half a chair and half a bed.

I'm no longer wearing my normal clothes and instead I'm wearing some sort of night gown. The blanket that covered my lower body and the bed I sat on felt very different to the one I have in that digital world.

I look around and see the door that had no door handle and could open by itself.

My upper body can barely move, now all that's left are my legs and lower body.

I focus hard but found out it was still very hard like last time.

Once again the room shakes more violently making me stop...the shaking then calms down after a while and I continue.

It took me a while until my leg starts twitching.

After a long and a bit frustrating moment with the room still shaking...I was able to move one of my legs. My body felt weird every time it moved but I continue.

As I try to move my other leg, I listen to the strange machine that stood next to me. The machine that slowly kept going:

*BEEP*...*BEEP*...*BEEP*...

After another very long moment of trying and twitching, my other leg moves.

I was about to turn my body to the side when the room shakes more roughly again making me fall backwards on the bed.

After the shaking slows down, I sit up straight. As I sit up straight, a weird feeling rushes through my back.

I then turned to the side until I'm sitting on the edge of the bed.

This time, I just stare at floor while hugging my teddy bear.

I've already tried it before havn't I.

What happened the last time I tried this?

Oh yeah that's right, my feet stop working and I...I...almost hit the floor-

(FLASHBACK)

"imagine what would've happen if Kirito wasn't there to catch you,"

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

I shiver as I remember the boy's voice echoed in my head.

Wait...I met a boy?

I think I did- wait...I did meet one- no I met two. One of them had a presence that scared me and the other had a presence that encourage me.

They also wore certain colours...that's right, they wore the colours-

The door with no handle opens by itself. I turn my head and I make eye contact with a man standing at the door.

The man had short black hair and his clothes consisted mostly of the colour black. For a brief moment I saw my dad but I soon realise it was Kirito.

Kirito seemed shocked to see me.

We both stare at each for a long moment of awkward silence when suddenly the room shakes more viciously. The vicious shaking made me lose my balance and I fall forwards towards the floor.

Like last time, my legs were completely rigid and all I could do was stare at the floor as it got closer and closer.

Ignoring the vicious shaking, Kirito sprinted into the room. The shaking caused him to trip, so Kirito dived in so that he was the one who hit the floor instead of me. Kirito landed on his back while I landed on him.

The tubes attached to my arm stretched further which meant none of them detached from my arms when I fell. His arms were warm and felt oddly comfortable, he wrapped his arms around me tight as the room continued to viciously shake.

"Ouch." Kirito groaned softly as the shaking stop. "That was close."

"Hey Kirito, is she-" A girl I recognized as Shinoa, enters the room but freezes when she sees the position Kirito and I are in.

Shinoa looks at us for a moment before placing her hand over her mouth to hide her grin. "Oh my, Kirito are you cheating on your wife again?"

Kirito stares back at the girl with a straight face. "What do kind of person do you think I am?"

"You know." The girl says still grinning. "The perverted kind. ANYWAYS, what happen here? How is she able to move?"

Kirito picked me up and carefully placed me back on the bed, I stare at both of them confusingly.

My eyes travel left to right from Shinoa and Kirito in a very confusing manner. I then realise my teddy bear is still on floor.

Kirito notices what I was looking at. He picked up my teddy bear and offers it to me.

I don't move.

Wait a minute...why are they acting like they've never met me before. They're staring at me like I'm a complete stranger.

But why? Didn't we meet a while ago.

How could they forget who I am?

My head turns to Kirito and then to Shinoa and then to Kirito and so.

Have they really forgotten who I am? Maybe I'm just imagining it and I never actually met them. But if that's the case, how do I know their names? What if this is just another memory my dad set up for to watch? What if I wake up back in that world all along and-

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa." Kirito went closer to me, softly placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Calm down...calm down...we're not going hurt you...calm...down...take a deeeeep breath."

Like last time, Kirito's voice sounds warm and comforting. I slowly take a deep breath as the machine next to me continues to make loud beeping noises. I take another deep breath and then take another. I calm down as the machine next to me also quiets down. I didn't even realise I was panicking.

"It's okay, don't worry...you're safe." Once again Kirito offers me my teddy bear.

"Are you sure she can understand you?"

I look at the girl and then back at him. Wait...haven't I already been through this? This conversation. The words they spoke. I already been through this.

I stop thinking about that for a short moment when I realise Kirito was still offering me my teddy bear. I hesitantly and slowly take my teddy bear from Kirito who then smiled at me.

I wanted to say thank you but like last time, my mouth can open but I can't seem to form any words.

Coming back to the my original thoughts. I've already been through all this. How is that possible? I have to sure, maybe I'm wrong but if my prediction are correct then I really am going to go through all this again. If I remember correctly the order of events...Kirito gave me a teddy...and then what happen next? ...oh yeah now I remember a man named Yu should come after this.

Kirito wanted to say something but before he could say it, the door to the room opens again and just as I predicted, a man I recognized as Yu entered the room. Yu walked in casually but froze when he saw me.

"Hey Yuichiro!" Shinoa calls out to Yu who had entered the room. "Go tell the others..."

The purple haired girl pauses to add a dramatic effect but I already knew what she was going to say.

" _She's_ awake."

* * *

The girl awoken.

Her head felt weird but it strangely felt much better than usual.

The girl didn't think anything was different as her thoughts immediately went to that _dream_.

This was the third time...that she had dreamt about that girl.

The girl laid in bed wondering what was happening.

She placed her hand on her head...her head felt way better than usual.

She looked up and saw the Medicuboid had been detached from her.

Out of curiosity, she sat up and looked.

Both doctors and nurses were there, staring incredulously at her. The girl wondered why the door to the sterile room she was in was wide open.

The girl looked back at them confusingly. She recognised one of the doctors and asked. "What's wrong Doctor Kurahashi?"

Doctor Kurahashi was completely lost for words. He tried to speak but he stuttered. "N-no...no-nothing is...is w-wrong. It just..."

The girl looked even more confused.

The doctor decided to start simple but both disbelief and happiness was still visible of his face . "Umm...Your- i don't know how but...w-were not sure...but...C-can you tell please...how do you feel?

Still oblivious to her current condition, the girl didn't know what to say. "I feel...I feel..."

The girl raised her arm which was a lot easier than she thought it was going to be and looked at it. Her eyes widened.

What used to be extremely pale skin that made her look sickly now had a normal light skin colour.

"I feel..."

It was then she realised the amount of energy that was being contained in her body. She felt like she could run a marathon.

"I feel...great."

* * *

 **A/N End of chapter! Yay, I want to apologize for taking so long to update but here it is. I've decided that this will not be a two-shot and will have 3-4 chapter or even more. The reason why I decided this was going to be a two-shot in the first place was because I was already occupied with Akame Ga Save and Strangers In Remnant so I wanted to finish this story once and for all but this chapter dragged on for way too long. I've decided I'll just juggle the stories.**

 **Anyways, I want to thank someonestupED, damnlastwords, tendaysromeo, XY kid, a guest named "Jason", Ijustwannahelp and Fate Fan Fang for reviewing and thank you to all those who favorited or followed this story.**

 **Now I'm going to answer a few things:**

 **tendaysromeo: All I am going to say to your question is...yes and no.**

 **XY kid: Well... _he_ actually had a cameo in the first chapter, you'll know if you read it really closely. **

**Ijustwannahelp: I just want to say thank you for the review and I enjoyed reading it. I'll keep your advice in mind and I really hope this chapter met up to your expectation.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I really hope I didn't disappoint you guys (Probably did though). If you any problems with this chapter, please tell me in the reviews and I'll try make it right. If you spotted any typing errors in my writing, please point them out, this chapter has over 15,000 words so it's hard to find to them.**

 **And for those who have read my new recent story called "Behind the Scenes: 2108." are probably wondering. In the end of the first chapter of behind the scene, Rin herself showed a preview of Shelter The Sequel part 2... you see that preview was meant to be in this chapter but like I said, the chapter dragged on for way too long. That preview Rin showed however will certainly occur in the next chapter.**

 **I'm going to write Strangers In Remnant chapter 34 now so yeah...** **I think that's all I have to say for this one. Thank you for reading and I'll see you all in the next one.**

 **This chapter was finished on 26/08/2017**


	3. New Life (Part 1)

**A/N And were back!**

 **Hallo, I don't want to waste too much of your time especially after making you wait for so long but there a couple of very important things I have to say.**

 **1\. Scientist**

 **For those who remember, a bald scientist had a cameo in the last chapter...FORGET ABOUT THAT! I've decided to change that character. The scientist isn't going to a be a bald man, in fact, the scientist is actually going to be a female (with hair) from a very famous franchise that you may or may not know, you'll know when you see her. Originally, the bald scientist was going to be related to why Minecraft was in the first chapter of this story but** Ijustwannahelp **made a really good point in his/her review, so I've scrapped that idea. The minecraft cameo was actually going to be part of the plot but then I realised this story consist mostly of anime** **characters** **in it, so putting in anything related to minecraft just seems** **extremely** **out of place and really forced. Not to mention, it'll probally be hard to take a scene or conversation seriously if the word minecraft is being thrown around. So yeah.**

 **2\. Split into two chapters**

 **So I've been working hard on this chapter ever since I finished writing chapter 40 of SIR. But as I worked, I realised something...this chapter is WAY too long. So! I've split this chapter into two parts. This is part 1 and part 2 will come out soon, hopefully. With that said, this chapter is still a bit lengthy and extremely slow so yeah, (It's got over 20,000 words)**

 **3\. Change of Point of View**

 **So there are scenes where the point of view will change. I'm really sorry if this ruins the rhythm or mood of the story but there were scenes where I just couldn't write it any other way (I'm just not a good writer). When I mean change point of view, I mean going from Rin's point of view (First person POV) to Third Person's POV. So keep in mind, whenever it says 'Rin' instead of "my", "I" or anything like that, the POV has changed. It will switch in between these two POVs throughout Part 2 but it will mostly be in Rin's point of view. I also changed everything to past tense because that's what I'm used to.**

 **Good news! I proof read this chapter! Hooray for me...I say that as if I had just made an achievement but really I should be proofreading all my chapters huh? What I'm trying to say is, that** **there shouldn't be as much errors or typos like last time, but with that said... sorry if there are any.**

 **Anyways, I hope this chapter doesn't disappointment any of you and yeah, enjoy! Reviews will be answered at the end of this part.**

* * *

The camera aimlessly watched the room.

The camera scanned, as it's head slowly moved left to right, right to left. However it's main point of focus was the girl who was settled on a full hospital bed, right in the middle of the room. Connected to the girl, was a white, cube-shaped helmet which almost covered the girl's entire head leaving only the lips and chin exposed.

A monitor was embedded in the side of the machine which indicated the girl's vital signs which seemed stable at the moment and gray wires were attached to the girl's arm.

The girl wasn't online nor was she contemplating. Instead, she was just lying there...sleeping. Whatever she was dreaming about remained a cryptic mystery.

All ceiling lights in the room were off and no other nurses or doctors were in sight.

The only source of light came from the machine that the girl was connected to.

Then, meaterailsing out of nothing, a hooded boy wearing a _blue_ and _white_ coat emerged from the ground.

The boy's face was hidden but it was clear that he was staring straight at the girl.

Strangely, the camera didn't react despite having a motion detector attached to it.

The boy approached the bed and pulled out a tiny glowing object. Raising his arm, the boy magically inserted the small glowing object into the girl's heart.

After a moment, the boy turned and stared at the camera.

The camera suddenly had a strange malfunction and it's screen went extremely static.

By the time, the camera fixed itself...the boy was gone.

* * *

Two days _prior..._

* * *

"But first." Shinoa pulled out a small bottle that was the size of her palm.

The bottle had a white cap, contained this green liquid and had a word on it that I had never heard of.

"I need you to drink this. It may not taste nice but we need you to drink this if were going to remove those." She pointed at the white tube things that were attached to my arms.

Instead of nodding like I did last time, I stared back at Shinoa hesitantly, pulling my head back. That drink did something last time and I don't know what.

Seeing my suspicions, Kirito and even Kanade, whose face rarely changed, seemed surprised for a moment. Shinoa however just giggled, "Impressive, you've got great instincts Rin. But don't worry, it won't hurt you. It'll just make you feel sleepy that's all."

I stared at the drink. I kinda already knew that. The last time I drank this, I ended up reliving the entire moment again. I had to get used to moving again and I had to say my name again which was strangely still difficult. But most importantly, I had to meet _them_ again.

After being introduced twice, I could clearly remember their names: Yu, Shinoa, Kanade, Yuri, Sinon, Black and Kirito.

I stared at the strange drink as a question popped up in my mind: What if I'm stuck in a loop?

What if I drink this and end up back in my room only to relive the whole moment again. Maybe this whole whole thing is some sort of recording that I can interact with and this drink is the reply button...

My mind drifted to a different memory and I remembered the two hooded boys who appeared in my room.

Somehow, I doubted that...I'm not even sure where I got that idea from.

I stared at the drink for a short moment before gently taking it from Shinoa.

With less hesitation from last time, I poured the liquid down my throat.

It was bitter but at the same time it had a unique taste to it...just as I remembered. After I swallowed it, I look back at Kirito, Shinoa and Kanade.

They were expecting something to happen and I knew exactly what they waiting for this time.

Right on cue, my head suddenly felt drowsy. My head started swaying left to right.

Instead of panicking this time, I felt curious.

So it was the drink that made me sleepy last time. How can a drink make you sleepy though?

I never knew that was a th-

My eyes slowly started flickering.

I look back at Kirito who was looking at me with assurance.

"It's okay," his voice echoed through my head, "you can rest."

This time, I didn't resist the drowsiness that draged me into sleep.

I close my eyes and place all my trust in...

The last thing I saw was a blurry image of someone..

Dad?

* * *

I heard crying.

My eyes gently opened and I was greeted with an unusual sight.

I was standing up.

I was in some sort of street or neighbourhood. There were houses but no people.

The sound of someone crying echoed quite faintly to my ears.

I froze.

I knew this place.

But how? I've never been here have I? I don't think I've been here befo-

No wait...I have.

This is the neighbourhood that...my Dad and I lived in.

This is where I grew up with my Dad.

The crying got louder and I turned to look.

I saw a...sandpit.

On the sandpit there was a small girl crying.

The child was sitting on the sandpit alone and tears flowed from her little eyes.

I stare in complete shock. The girl who was crying...was me?

This child looked exactly like me but much younger.

Is this the past? A memory?

No...it can't be. This can't be a memory. If this is my memory then where's my dad? Why isn't he here?

I continue to stare, not knowing what to do.

With nothing to do, I slowly started walking towards the sobbing child.

Every step I took felt so normal yet so unnatural.

I took another step closer towards the crying child and-

Everything changed.

The blue sky turned into a deadly red and all the houses were suddenly on fire.

 _"RIN!"_

I look around in panic wondering what was happening.

 _"RIN!"_

The child continued to cry and the buildings started breaking into pieces with debris falling everywhere.

No...this can't be happening.

 _"RIN!"_

Dad...where are you?

 _"RIN!"_

Out of desperation, I turned around and reached for the tearful child but the floor beneath me suddenly disappeared and I started falling.

 _"RIN!"_

As I fell into a void of darkness, I continue to look up and reach for the crying me, trying to get back up.

I looked...there was a boy standing behind her. He wore a _black_ and _red_ coat with a hood hiding his entire face except for his mouth.

As I fell into darkness, the last thing I saw was myself mourning and the boy grinning at me.

 _"RIN!"_

* * *

"RIN!"

My eyes, wide open, I sat up straight like a rocket and was instantly greeted with Kirito's warm comforting hands on my shoulders. My eyes bounced around the room as my head struggled to stay still.

"RIN! Rin... it's okay. It's okay" Kirito assured slowly as I stopped to look at him, "It's okay...It was just a nightmare. Breathe. Just take deep breaths. Everything is fine."

I looked at Kirito. Nightmare? What does that mean? Is that another word for dream?

I turned and looked at the machine that stood next to me: it was beeping rapidly.

I soon realised that my heart was panicking. I slowly calmed myself down by taking in deep breaths just like Kirito said.

Shinoa looked at the drink that she made me drink, "Maybe that was a bad idea."

I stared confusingly at all three of them as if their skin colour had changed.

"Like Kirito said, you had a nightmare," Kanade spoke, "you started moving in your sleep to a point where Kirito had to hold you down."

"But hey, we manage to remove those in time at least." Shinoa said pointing at my arms.

I looked and truth to her word, the tubes were removed and were replaced with bandages.

"Well..." Kirito began, "you're free to move now, can you move?"

Before doing anything, I first took a moment of silence to process what had just happened. It was just a dream, it wasn't real. I'm not sure why I thought it was real in the first place. It just felt so...

I nodded at Kirito before turning to the side of the bed.

My arms felt more free, now that those tubes things weren't attached to me.

I carefully allowed my legs to fall off the side of the bed and onto the floor. With my hands still clinging onto the edge of the bed, I stared at the metal floor.

The metal floor sent shivers through my legs when my toes made contact with it.

With Kirito right next to me and giving me confidence, I pushed myself off the bed and stood up.

For a moment, my leg twitches and I manage to stand up by myself for a second, it was brief but that second felt like a moment of immense progress for me.

But not long after, my legs fell rigid and limp as I start falling. My legs remaining straight, I fell towards the floor.

Luckily Kirito was there to catch me, "Maybe you should take it slowly," he turned and faced Kanade, "Do we have a wheelchair around here?"

Kanade shook her head, "Since we were expecting to face a possible threat to human life, this ship is mostly equipped with offensive equipment."

"I see..." Kirito turned back to look at me for a second before making a decision, "Here, I'll carry you for now." Kirito picked me up, giving me a piggyback ride with his arms holding up my legs and my arms wrapped around his neck.

Kanade showed no reaction while Shinoa covered her mouth with her hand, hiding what was obviously a mischievous grin, I could tell from the look in her eyes.

"oh my, you really are cheating on your wife."

With a straight face, Kirito made no reply as if he was already used to Shinoa making comments like that. Although I didn't really understand what Shinoa's statement meant in the first place.

Before we left, I tried reaching for my teddy bear with my arm.

Kanade noticed this and picked up my teddy bear, "I'll carry that for you."

After that we headed for the door. Kirito placed his hand on a key pad next to the door before typing in six different numbers into the keypad which somehow opened the door with no door handle.

I could feel my heart racing but not out panic, but out of excitement to see what the world looked like outside this room.

* * *

It was...not what I expected. I know I'm in no position to complain but... It was just smaller than I thought it was going to be.

I then realised that I must still be in a building which brought me to my last question: why did the building shake before? I'm glad it stopped but how did it happen? Can buildings even shake?

With Kirito carrying me, he lead me into a hallway. As soon as we exited the room, my eyes darted everywhere and scanned every inch of the corridors with high interest which earned a teasing giggle from Shinoa.

You could probably fit four to five people in the width of the hallway and it either lead to more doors or more hallways.

The doors themselves were spread evenly between each other although there were a few moments were they were no doors at all.

The ceiling was quite close to our heads but not that close and on the ceiling were strange, glowing, rectangular lights that illuminated the hallways with the colour white.

The walls and floors seemed interesting by itself. It was made by this type of metal I've never seen before making it very interesting to look at.

"Whatcha looking at Rin?" Shinoa asked snapping me out of my daydream.

The wall. Is what I wanted to say but I couldn't.

I looked over to Kanade to see how she handling and as always she had that straight face on with her arms politely wrapped around my teddy bear. Unlike me, her eyes stayed in one place and that place was forward.

"What's the point of dragging Rin out of her bed and helping her to walk again if you're just going to carry her?" Shinoa asked.

"We shouldn't rush things. From the looks of it, it'll take a while before Rin can walk again," Kirito answered, "and Rin seemed really eager to go, right Rin?"

I nodded with a gentle smile and excitement.

"You know, you're acting extremely kind to someone you just met a day ago." Shinoa commented, "Why is that?"

I stared at Shinoa with a confused look. Why is she asking that? Is it wrong to act kind towards people? I thought that was a good thing.

Her comment caught Kanade's attention somehow. I almost jumped when she turned her head to look at Kirito and me.

"Hmm..." Kirito appeared deep in thought, turning every step he took into an intense second. Just by looking at him, you could tell he was arguing with himself, "Honestly...I'm not really sure myself. I just feel...responsible for her somehow."

I tilt my head. I didn't know what the word 'responsible' means but it sounded like a good word...I think.

"Kirito." Shinoa said with a small smile.

"Yes?"

"You're a terrible liar."

"EH?"

Kanade nodded meaning she agreed with Shinoa's statement. I looked back and forth from Kanade to Shinoa confusingly. Isn't being a terrible liar a good things?

Before anything else could be said, we approached a large metal door. At first I thought Kirito was going to press a button to open it like he did with the previous door but to my bewilderment, he kept walking. Kanade and Shinoa didn't seem to stopping either. Seeing that Kirito was about to ran into a wall while carrying me, I couldn't help but flinch by closing my eyes.

Right at the last second, I hear the door open automatically and I feel a large amount of light overwhelmed my eyes even though they were closed.

I open my eyes only to be greeted with my blinded vision from the light. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the sudden increase in brightness before I could finally see where I was.

I stared in pure amazement

"Welcome to the Main Bridge room," Shinoa said looking at my expression, 'this is basically where the ship is piloted and controlled from."

We were in a much bigger, wider and taller room. There was a large window in the front of the room and through that window I saw...clouds. White clouds. We were flying right above the clouds from the looks of it- wait...how? How are we flying? Well, this building does seem pretty small but...

I didn't know buildings could fly.

"Oh hey Kirito," Yu greeted noticing us, "how's- what is she doing here?!" He exclaimed pointing at me, "Why is she out of bed?"

"We decided to bring Rin out of her room." Kanade answered.

I looked around the room. The room was built in a rectangular shape with three large chairs on each side. In the middle there was one bigger chair which almost looked like a throne compared to the others, sitting in the very back of the room. The chair was the furthest from the window but it was built higher than all the other chairs giving whoever sat on it, the best view of the window.

In front of each chair was a table with digital keyboards, buttons, switches and a lot of other stuff I didn't know even existed.

Seated in four of the chairs were Sinon, Yuri, Yu and Black. Speaking of Black, she's still glaring at me with her usual unemotional expression.

Sitting in the throne-like chair was a girl I did not recognise: the girl has red eyes and had a twintail hairstyle with a black ribbon. She wore a red coat over a white uniform like a cap, a black tie with red sidelines and a red skirt.

Although what stood out to me was the strange object in her mouth. There was some sort of white stick coming out of her closed mouth.

Yu continued his concern, "But isn't she-"

"She healed," Kirito explained, "we don't know the full details but...her body seems to have improved dramatically since we last took her out of her ship."

Kanade handed Yuri the device she used to scan me.

I gawked at Kirito with a confused look. Ship? What ship? I was taken out of a ship? Like...those things that sail across water? ...Did I came out of a boat?

"Are you sure this device is worki-"

"We ordered it last week," Kanade interrupted, "it's highly unlikely."

"Then how is this possible?" Yuri asked, "Last time I checked, this ship's medical equipment wasn't that advance...no offense Captain."

"None taken." The girl sitting in the throne-like chair replied.

"We have scientist to figure that out," Kirito declares, "our job is just to scout and report. I'm sure there's a logical explanation."

"Don't we have a scientist on board right now though?" Sinon pointed out. For some weird reason, everyone besides Black deadpanned when the word 'scientist' was spoken as though something about this 'scientist' worried them.

Are scientist bad? I found it concerning how I got nervous just by seeing their reactions.

"So!"

Still on Kirito's back, I look at the girl wearing a black ribbon sitting in the throne-like chair.

"You must be the girl from space." The girl articulated looking down at me from her chair.

Looking back at her with interest, I tilted my head. Girl from space? ...I thought my name was Rin.

"This is Kotori Itsuka," Kirito said introducing the girl to me, "She's the captain of this aircraft."

Kotori. I don't know what 'captain' or 'aircraft' means but what I do know is that's another name for me to remember. I gave Kotori a gentle wave but she just stared back at me, "She looks too human to be from space if you ask me." I heard her mused.

My eyes then travel back to the strange white stick popping out of Kotori's mouth.

Kotori noticed my stare and raised an eyebrow at me, "What? Never seen a lollipop in your life?"

She pulled the white stick out of her mouth showing a pink ball at the end of it. I stared at it, admiring it like I had just discovered a new crystal.

"I'll take that as a no." Kotori said placing the so called 'lollipop' bach in her mouth.

I stare with bewilderment as a question soon asked itself. What's the point of putting it in your mouth if you're not going to eat it?

"Jeez, give her a break, Kotori," Shinoa said looking at the girl, "Rin here is still trying process everything she's seeing. She's not exactly familiar with all this."

"That reminds me," Yuri chimed in finally looking away from the device that Kanade gave her, "remember that time when Rin pinched Kirito's cheek?"

"You mean love at first sight?" Shinoa joked, teasing Kirito which got a sigh in response.

"isn't that what someone does when they think their dreaming?" Yuri continued completely ignoring Shinoa's immature comment.

"In that case, wouldn't you usually pinch yourself?" Yu asked.

"You pinch yourself to confirm whether your dreaming," Kanade explained extending Yuri's hypothesis, "but for most individuals, pinching something or someone is a way for them to verify whether something is a mirage or not since you can't make physical contact with hallucinations."

"So basically you're saying that Rin, at some point, thought she was just hallucinating?" Sinon concluded, "Why?"

"Why don't you just ask her?" Kotori suggested pointing at me, "She's right there you know?"

All eyes walked towards me causing my nervousness to double. Seeing that they were expecting an answer from, I tilt my head in puzzlement. Despite them speaking the same language, they were using way too many big words. Confirm? Individual? Verify? Hallucination? Physical?

"Wow, even she doesn't know." Kotori stated.

"Relax, you guys are probably just thinking way too deep into this." Shinoa suggested with a casual shrug.

I didn't really understand what my new friends were saying. But I knew they were talking about me which made me a bit nervous. Somehow, I felt like a hidden owl spectating from a distance but at the exact same time, it felt like all eyes were on me.

Out of the corner of the eye, I notice that Black was still remaining completely silent...still glaring at me with her blue circular eyes.

I had mixed feelings about that. It made me a bit intimidated by her yet at the same time, the mysterious vibe she gave only sparked my curiosity. I mean how are her eyes glowing?

Suddenly, a ringing noise was heard through the room interrupting my train of thought about Black.

Kotori presses a button which causes a digital screen to pop up in front of it, "What do you want? ...what for? ...fine, I'll send her over under one condition...tell me how got on my ship, I don't remember allowing you on the Fraxinus-...did she just hanged up on me?"

"What's wrong?" Yu asked although it seems he and everyone else already had an idea.

Kotori just sighed out of pure frustration, "Looks like our 'scientist' wants to meet Rin." she added emphases to the word 'scientist' but I didn't know why.

Everyone else seemed to know though since it went silent for a couple of seconds with all eyes avoiding eye-contact. Their faces told me that they were debating about something in their heads. It was like a circle of crows had gathered together just to stare at random directions with me awkwardly hanging around in the middle.

I stared at each one of their, observing their facial expression: Sinon was calm but in her face you could see the same hesitant expression that was on Yuri's, Yu's and Shinoa's face. Black and Kanade looked like they didn't care but Kanade had a little more empathy in her eyes.

The silence was broken when Yuri looked at Kirito with a nervous look, "Should we ignore her? Like you said, Rin is still getting used to everything...I feel like Rin would be a bit overwhelmed if she met... _her."_

"Nah, that's a big understatement...Rin would just straight faint." Shinoa half joked. By now I had caught on with Shinoa's joke and style of talking but this joke seem to have a bit of truth to it.

I looked side to side a bit more worried now. Was this 'scientist' that bad? What is a scientist? Why are they so anxious about it?

With hopeful eyes, I looked at Kirito who was thinking.

"What should we do, leader?" Yu asked.

"I thought I was suppose to be the leader." Shinoa's comment was ignored.

We all waited for a answer.

He then gently suggested, "I don't see what harm could come out of it. She might find out more about Rin. Besides, she was able to keep calm when she first saw Rin, I'm sure she'll stay calm..I hope."

* * *

Everyone besides Kotori decided to come with Kirito and I.

Seemed like everyone was eager to find out more about me which was fine since I couldn't do that. If this 'scientist' could tell everyone about me then I'll be more than happy to meet this person. But why did everyone seem nervous? It's almost like they didn't want to meet this person.

Walking through the hallways, I felt like I was in a marching group as I look behind me to see all my new friends following me...or were they following Kirito who was carrying me.

We reached this door. This door was larger and wider than the other ones. I hear Yu comment about the door something along the lines of "I never knew this ship had a garage."

Yuri reached for a button which I figured out was used to open these doors with no handles.

But before he could press it, all of us heard a loud boom. An explosion that almost stopped my heart. While I slowly panicked everyone went on alert.

Yuri pressed the button for the door and with Kirito still carrying me, we all sprinted in which confused me cause I would usually run in the opposite direction.

Entering the room, we were greeted with smoke. Out of instincts, I hold in my breath not breathing in the smoke. As the smoke slowly clears, to my amazement, I hear the new voice of a man yell.

"WERE NOT ALLOWED TO USE WEAPONS INSIDE!"

Another new voice, this time a woman replied, "We'll never know if we don't try!"

The smoke cleared and I see a woman. She had black hair, dark skin and glasses wearing a white coat. In her hands with a large strange looking object. From the looks of it, she was aiming this object at this...weird shaped rock?

She pushed a trigger and a huge laser beam was fired from a distance. The laser hit the weird shaped rock and an even louder boom was heard followed by clouds of more grey smoke that spreaded everywhere.

Out of curiosity, I breath in the smoke only to receive a bitter smell that made be cough.

"Are you okay Rin?" Kirito asked as the smoke began to fade. I recovered and looked at the smoke, intrigued. How does that smoke word? It seems to come and go. Why?

As the smoke that blocked my ability to see faded, I look back at the strange weird shaped rock that was hit by the laser. It looks completely fine and normal.

The woman that fired the laser marveled at the sight, "Amazing! There's not even a dent!"

"Hange!" Yuri barked with annoyance, "What are you doing!?"

Kande had no comment, her face completely unfazed.

It was then the woman saw us, "Oh, you guys are here. Guess what, this ship is extremely durable."

"We saw," Sinon started with a calm yet deadpanned expression, "what were you thinking?"

As they conversed, I took the opportunity to look around the new room. Unlike the Main Bridge Room, this room was more square like. There was a lot of space and it basically looked liked an empty box with no windows. Empty except for this one corner that was filled with tables, computers, tools and a lot of things other fancy junk that I could not recognize.

"That was awesome!" Yu exclaimed with excitement looking at the strange object that fired the laser, "Where did you get that?!"

Shinoa sweatdroped, "Yu, please don't encourage her."

"Oh this?" The woman said looking at the object she was holding, "Ah yes, it's a beauty isn't it? It's just the prototype but you can tell how-"

Like a flying brick colliding into a wall, her voice was cut short when her eyes met with mine.

I looked back at her. She didn't seem scary or intimidating in any way. She almost seemed like a fun person. Made me wonder why Kirito and the rest were so hesitant to meet her. Another thing quickly hits my curiosity as I tilted my head in confusion. The woman seems shocked to see me. Compared to Kirito when he first saw me, the woman seemed to be immensely aghast by the sight of me. Why?

She blinked twice. A brief gap of time laid between each blink. From the looks of it, it seemed like she didn't believe what she was looking at. The moment of staring was shorted lived however, as her astonished face faded and transformed before me.

her eyes widened immensely as a bright smile of excitement and adrenaline appeared on her face with her cheeks turning a bit red. Are cheeks meant to turn red?

The woman practically screamed after that.

I don't know how...but in what felt like less than a second, the woman managed to sprint across the room, pushed Kirito while catching me and placed me on a chair. She started examining every part of my body while chanting, "She really is awake! How impressive! I certainly did not predict this! It's so unexpectedly thrilling! My calculations said she wouldn't wake up for another month YET HERE SHE IS! Awake and alive!"

Her eyes traveled to every inch of me with limitless passion: My arms, my cheeks, nose, legs and at one point she glared at my eyes like she was staring into my soul. She even look inside my mouth placing a flat, thin, wooden stick on my tongue for who knows why. The stick was smooth and rounded at both ends yet it still felt weird as the woman pressed it gently down onto my tongue.

Shinoa looked at Kirito and whispered sarcastically, "She'll stay calm, you said."

The man behind her along with Yu and Kirito tried to to calm her down, "Hange, please calm down. You're scaring her."

"Amazing! Fascinating! Brilliant! " The woman exclaimed, ignoring Yu's and Kirito's pleads, as her eyes darted to every aspect that was related to me. She pulled out a device similar to the one Kanade used and scanned me, "Her skeleton. Body structure. Spine. Brain. EVERYTHING! It's exactly like...like a..." she stopped dead in her tracts as her excited spasm froze. She looked over at all my new friends, "She's a human."

"YOU JUST REALISED THAT!?" Yuri exclaimed.

Kirito laughed nervously, "Okay ah...Hange, this is Rin. Rin, this is Hange Zoe. She's a scientist although I'm not sure why she came with us."

"I'm Moblit Berner, Hange's assistant." Was... what I guess the man behind Hange tried to say before Hange interrupted him.

I tried to write the name Moblit into my head so I wouldn't forget but the name Hange was practically already engraved into my mind by now.

"It's a honour to meet you Rin!" Hange proclaimed with a hungry expression, taking my hand and rapidly shaking it before I could even react, "you don't know how stimulating this is! You just might be the exact thing I need right now!" I just stared as she shook my hands with joy, her eyes looking straight into mine...she's still shaking my hand...are handshakes meant to be this long?

I wasn't really paying that much attention to the handshake though. I was still a bit... shaken by Hange's sudden introduction. Flabbergasted, I finally noticed that my eyes were wide open and that I haven't blinked once since Hange charged at me. My eyes were just diluted with awe and pure shock.

Hange suddenly perked up, "This is perfect! Your timing couldn't have been any better!"

Yuri raises an eyebrow, "Why?"

"I ran a technological scan on Rin's spacecraft and look what I discovered." Hange said excitedly showing everyone...a black screen?

Everyone looked at the black screen for a couple seconds before giving Hange a strange look.

"Well..." Hange said waiting for a response, "What do you see?"

"There's nothing there." Kanade said, a bit confused.

"EXACTLY!" Hange exclaimed making me jump. She looked at the weird shaped-rock, "Whatever this spaceship is, it's ability to hide itself is phenomenal! Even the most brilliant minds could walk past this and think it's just a natural rock! Even though we all saw it was clearly an artificial spaceship."

"So there's no way in accessing it?" Yu asked.

"Not exactly," Hange said leaning dangerously close to Yu's face with an excited smile, "I've tried many methods in attempt to open this ship and none of those methods haven't even come close to succeeding. So a theory came to my mind... Remember when we first removed Rin?"

"It deactivated as soon as we moved Rin." Kirito answered before his eyes widen as it seems he realised something, "Wait, don't tell me you want-"

"Precisely!" Hange interrupted before looking at the rock, "This ship shut off immediately after we removed Rin from it...so what if Rin is the only one who can activate it?"

Everyone went silent after Hange's question.

I didn't really understand what they were saying, they kept using long words that I don't know the meaning of but...it was like silence had crashed landed on the group ceasing all words to form.

Kirito and Yuri seems to be interested in what Hange said but were still doubtful.

Shinoa and Yu on the other hand didn't seem to have any objections.

Kanade and Sinon were calm as always while Black was still glaring at me while leaning against the wall with her arm crossed.

"Well..." Kirito began, throwing a rock into the river of quiet, "I can't really see how it'll do any harm. Who knows, we might accumulate more information about Rin and her past."

Everyone looked at each other, each giving their own unique look.

It was then, I felt all the attention draw to me making me jump as I almost forgot once again, that I wasn't just watching but actually here with them.

"Hey Rin," Kirito called gently pointing at the strange shaped-rock, "does that remind you of anything?"

I looked at the object for a good minute. It just looked like a big rock to me. It's shape was really odd for a rock and the colour almost made it look empty.

I looked back at Kirito and shook my head.

"I see," Kirito said before gently bending down until his face was at the same level with mine, "is it okay if we try something? Trust me it'll only be for a moment."

I tilted my head in confusion, wondering what Kirito wanted. They said something about my past and that apparently they found me in that strange rock. Questions, one after the other, failed to que up in a straight line inside my head: What is that? How was I inside that rock? Does it really relate to me? Why is everyone so interested by it?

Out of curiosity and pressure from everyone looking at me, I slowly nodded my head replying yes not knowing what to expect.

"Alright then, here goes nothing." Kirito said picking me up again, carrying me on his back.

We approached the strange rock, it was just me and Kirito while everyone else stood back which worried me even more. Despite the tense atmosphere, Hange was behind the black screen waiting eagerly for something to happen.

We approached the rock. It's a dark brown colour and there was still a bit smoke from earlier. Despite the rock standing completely still, it was almost like it was reacting to me.

Kirito stopped, noticing my reaction, "Feel anything Rin?"

I didn't respond. I was too focus on the rock now. From far away, it was like looking at something new that meant nothing to me but from up close...

I reached for the rock with my hand. I gulped softly as each second felt like an intense hour. My mind must've been in a trance because before I knew, my hand made contact with it. Since it was a rock, I expected to touch something hard and rough but it was surprisingly...smooth.

A wave of silent reactions rushed quietly into every person in the room. Nothing. The rock stood there, doing nothing.

I guessed everyone was expecting something to happen. To be honest, even I was a bit disappointed.

After a moment, Shinoa sighed as she shrugged with a tired smile, "Well, at least we tri-"

Suddenly a rainbow of colours exploded from the rock and a series of noises bursted into the room. Like the veins on an arm, strings of coloured lights poured in from the top to bottom of the object. Soon the light engulfed the whole rock and what used to be a dark brown stone was now something completely different.

Everyone tensed yet awed at the sight. The black screen that Hange was standing in front of suddenly began rapidly showing thousands of greens numbers, letters and shapes. They poured into the black screen like a horde of bulls running past.

The scientist took one look at it and got extremely excited, "In-incredible! Marvellous! Look at all this- what am I doing just watching?! I need to record this!" she proceeded to rapidly type on the digital keyboard below the screen.

Despite the bright lights, I was able to stare closely like I was in some sort of trance as the transformation flashed through my eyes: Hard rockish-like skin was replaced with light metal. Coloured buttons, wires and screen became visible. Beeping and lots of fancy noises were heard but once all that noise died down...the _thing_ calmed down and we all looked at what the rock had become.

It was some sort of machine in the shape of a long and broad chair. If there was any way to describe what I had just experienced, it was like the touch of my hand had somehow brought it to life. But why me?

I studies it with my eyes as that was all my brain wanted me to do right now.

Where have I seen this before? No matter how I looked at it, it was so familiar. It felt familiar. It looked familiar. Even the soft buzzing noise it was making sounded familiar. Everything about it looked really recognisable to me and I don't know why. This machine...what could this machi...no, it's not a machine...it's a...it's a space thing...yeah, now I remember...I think...yes this is a space thing that was created by my...

My eyes widened in realisation and shock as a vision flashed through my eyes.

(FLASHBACK)

 _No! I don't want to!_

Not being able to handle these emotions, tear flowed out of my tiny eyes

I reach for him with my small fingers desperately searching for comfort.

 _I dont want to leave! I want to stay here with you!_

He bends down and smiles softly, he places his gentle hand on my young head and delicately laid his head against mine, "I'll always be watching over you Rin..."

My consciousness slowly fades into black and the last thing I saw... was him

 _Please don't make me go Dad._

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

"She's crying again." Shinoa whispered.

Kirito turns his head to look at me, "Rin, are you okay-"

A hatch in one of the arms suddenly opened creating a loud noise before revealing a rectangular object.

We both looked.

"What is it Kirito?" Yuri asked.

"It's... some sort of... device," Kirito answered while my eyes widened in recognition, "should I take it?"

"Give it to Rin," said Kanade who's been holding my teddy bear this entire time, "it appears to be hers according to her reaction."

"Is it?" Kirito asked me pointing at the object.

I slowly nodded for my mouth could not express my feelings... Not that it could in the first could.

I couldn't believe it.

What I saw had a completely different opinion to my beliefs. I saw but could not understand as one question poped up among the hundreds I had:

How did _that_ get here?

After confirming it with me, he bent down and reached for it. He hesitated for a second before picking it up.

The object instantly reacts to Kirito's touch by turning into a rectangular light thin piece of grey stone. What used to be some sort of device which looked extremely familiar to me was now looked like an ordinary rock that I did not recognise. I couldn't help but flinch as though someone had shattered a precise jewel in front of my eyes.

I try reaching for it but my arm wasn't long enough.

Kirito took a couple of seconds to processed what just happened... "What just happened?" He asked.

"I think you broke it." Sinon concluded.

"EH?"

"Q-quick give it to Rin!" Yu panicked noticing my desperate attempt to reach for the...the...what was I reaching for again? Why did I want it so badly? I'm not sure anymore. I'm not even sure what my head was thinking about, it just really wanted to take that thing from Kirito's hands.

My memories felt so jumbled up like puzzle pieces had just been scattered everywhere within my brain. I was just so confused.

While Kirito stared with a confounded expression, Shinoa came to assist bringing the chair that I was sitting on earlier while Hange was still squealing in excitement as she was still rapidly typing on a keyboard.

Kirito gently placed me on the chair before handing me the rectangular object which was currently still an unrecognisable flat, rock.

I hesitantly raised both my hands to receive it...I had no idea why I hesitated. Maybe it was because this object may contain all the answers I need. Well...maybe.

Similar to when I touched the ship, as soon as I layed my hands on the flat thin rock, the rock reacted with many different coloured lights as though it was being brought to life.

After a few seconds, the rectangular object transformed and was no longer unrecognizable...

It's...my tablet.

It looked exactly the same as it did the last time I saw it. Well, actually, now it felt more new and...untouched. Strange.

But nonetheless... this is it. It's actually here physically. The tablet I used to control that world. The tablet that's been with me for as long as I can remember.

It was here, in my hands. But how? I'm no longer in that digital world...right? It can't be.

Maybe I'm mistaken. Am I though? The more I looked at it, the more it looked exactly like it. The tablet I would use to create anything I wanted. The tablet I used to listen to music and to take out that digital stylus. And of course, everyday I would log onto this tablet to check... messages.

Messages. That's right. Have I got any messages? Any new ones? If not, are the two messages I got before still there?

Only one way to find out.

Blocking out everything around me, I slowly touched the screen of my tablet and just like always, the screen turned on and showed multiple icons to press. I should've been used to it by now and yet, I almost jumped when the tablet reacted to my touch.

It really is my tablet.

If I have no new messages, I should still have two previous ones. One from my father and...the message I received before the countdown hit zero.

(FLASHBACK)

* * *

To: Rin

From: ?

Have you ever asked yourself: what will become of me from now on?

* * *

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

Scared of what I'll see, I slowly raised my index finger and press the icon where I would check messages.

I stared as those 5 words popped up on my screen.

*No messages in 8 days*

I stared at the tablet in shock debating if my eyes were actually working. The message...it was gone.

It's not there. The email I got from those two hooded boys is not there anymore.

I try swiping down to search but it wasn't there. I continued searching.

Just when I thought everything was deleted, a wave of relief washed over me when I saw that the message from my dad was still there. Soon, my shock and disturbed feeling transformed into utter interest.

Maybe those two erased it. They were in my room after all. But how did they do that? It is possible to delete a message that you've sen-

"Whoa, eight days?"

I almost jumped in my seat as my heart does a complete backflip.

"Oh sorry did I scare you?" I heard Sinon's voice asked.

I turned my head and saw everyone except for Black and Hange looking over my shoulder. Hange appeared to be too glued the screen like a happy bird.

"You were in there for that long? No wonder your body was in bad shape." Shinoa commented before jokingly saying, "That's not good Rin, it's not good to slouch for that long."

"Having your body in a stationary position for eight days can prove to be very damaging." Kanade explained.

Yuri just shrugged, "That's fine, it's nothing our technology can't heal."

"That still doesn't explain how Rin healed by herself." Kirito pointed out.

"At least we've confirmed her belongings," Yu added before looking at me, "so I guess this really does belongs to you huh? You must've had a blessed childhood to own something this advanced."

I slowly nodded my head not completely understanding everything Yu was saying. I brought my attention back to my tablet. It felt weird yet comforting to have all these people looking over my shoulder. It was certainly an odd feeling though since I'm used to being alone. It reminded me of that time when I met that purple haired girl.

A new theory that needed testing popped up in my head.

I exit from messages to check another icon. An icon that I would also clicked on everyday during my time in that digital world. I have many questions regarding this world. But right now this was one of my main question: which world am I in?

At first this question never crossed my mind, I originally thought that things were going to change where everyday would bring something new...that is, until my tablet decided to show itself to me.

If there's anything that can give me an answer, it's this tablet. At least, I could confirm one thing with this...

This was the real test.

Meanwhile, Yuri turned and looked at Hange, "Find anything useful about Rin?"

Hange looked at Yuri with wide eyes, "ABSOLUTELY...NOTHING!"

Kanade also looked at the scientist and tilted her head in confusion, "Why not?"

The scientist continued rapidly typing on her keyboard while staring at the screen that was filled with green words and numbers, "The statistics! These numbers! The sophisticated language! The amount of research and level of production in this ship is far too advance even for someone like me to comprehend! Who knows how long it'll take me to decrypt all this. Weeks! Months! Maybe even years!"

Attention on me slowly drew away like birds attracted to bigger bread crumbs.

"Do you know what any of it means?" Yuichiro asked observing the screen that contained all the green letters, numbers and shapes.

"It could mean anything." Hange replied as though she was a child who was just given a thousands colouring pencils to use, "Research, inventions, studies, maybe even blueprint! Whatever it is, all of it is highly advanced data that no one on this planet has ever seen before."

"That's quite the bold statement to make." Sinon pointed out a bit skeptical.

"And rightfully so!" Hange countered throwing his arms out in front of the screen, "Look at it! It's BEAUTIFUL!"

"Who do you think wrote all this?" Kirito asked, unlike Hange, he maintaned a calm composer.

"Who know!?" Hange exclaimed, her excitement growing by the second, "Whoever they are, he or she is a genius- no, to call this person a genius would be an understatement, more like...a genuine mastermind! Ahhhh! I would love to meet this person one day! Imagine the possibilities."

"How do you know it was created by a single individual?" Shinoa asked, a bit more serious than she usually is.

"You can tell just by looking at it! The style of writing and the way it all just flows, it stays constant throughout the whole procedure. Not to mention there's a signature at the very end," Hange pointed at certain features of the data presented on the screen, she then pushed up her glasses as she prepared to make another declaration, "and if my eyes don't deceive, this person was the one who created Rin's ship...the one who must've sent her here."

Everyone was taken a step back from that statement. The lack of info tortured each one of them every since this morning. So much that having the slightest hope to finally achieve some valuable info tempted them to just jump out of the bush instead of beating around it. Except for Black who from the outside, didn't seem to care.

Just when silence was about to flood the room, Sinon spotted something that concerned her greatly, "Kirito."

"Yes?" Kirito could almost feel the concern radiating from Sinon's eyes.

Sinon lifted her arm and pointed at me, "What is she doing?"

All eyes gently moved to my direction, although I wasn't really listening to their conversation anymore as I was too engrossed by the screen of my tablet to notice all the eyes that were now staring at my back.

My finger scrolled around the app I was on. It all felt the same: the way it moved by my touch, all the functions were still all the same and even all my previous save files and creations were still here.

"Rin?" Kirito called, his voice echoed into nothing as my ears seemed to be switched off, "Are you okay?"

Out of complete anxiety yet irresistible curiosity, I raised my hand and placed my finger on one of the options of my app. I don't know what I was expecting, but my eyes widened at the sight of a digital stylus materialising from my tablet and laying itself in my hand.

Everyone reacted instantly by tensing like warriors being confronted by a giant. The only person who wasn't concerned was Hange who seemed more mildly interested than ever before, much to Moblit's dismay.

"Kirito, isn't that..."

Kirito raised his index finger telling Yuri to be quiet as he slowly approached me from behind.

"Rin?" He called.

I continued, completely forgetting about my surroundings. I aimed my stylus-

"Rin..."

and drew a quick sketch of a-

"RIN!"

Tree...just a simple, small, tree.

Silence creeped into the room. This time everyone, _including me_ , expected something to happen yet...nothing...no tree appeared, nor did those pixels that usually appear, show themselves. At that point, even I wasn't so sure what I was trying to prove with that. But now I do know one thing...I really am, not in that digital world anymore.

Snapping me back into reality, I suddenly hear Shinoa giggling. Giggles that soon made its way to actual laughter, "Relax guys!" Shinoa laughed, "First, it needs a field for it to actually work RE-MEM-BER!"

Sinon placed her hand over her mouth and looked away. Yuri and Yu sighed in relief although they seemed to be a bit embarrassed for some reason. Kanade's face remained neutral the whole time, the only thing that changed was her posture as her body relaxed and returned to it's original stand up straight position.

"Black..." Kirito, who had also calm down, called looking at the mysterious girl, "You can lower your weapon."

Black eyed Kirito for a moment. It was like a king had just told their strongest warrior to stand down. Around Black's arm, there was a weird black, object and from the looks of it, the object was aimed...at me?

I didn't get to see any much of the object as Black slowly lowered it just as Kirito asked. The mysterious girl laid back and leaned against the wall once more, her eyes still glued to me. The object that was wrapped around her arm, deconstructed itself within moments before finally disappearing out of sight.

"And second!" Shinoa continued as she looked closer at my tablet, "If you look closer, it literally just looks like one of those advance drawing apps that kids can somehow use these day."

I titled my head in confusion... I was beginning to wonder how my neck isn't sore from the amount of times I've titled my head today.

Looking at all my new friends in bewilderment, I asked myself: Why were they so...scared when I drew that tree? Actually, were they scared? Maybe they were just worried about something? But what were they worried about? I was just drawing...right?

I looked over to Kirito for some sort of answer. Kirito looked at me and just scratched his head, "Don't worry about it, we just thought you were doing something else."

"HOW INTRIGUING!" Hange practically screamed much to her assistant's concern, "To think that Rin, an actual human from space, would be familiar with our...our...RIN!" not finishing her sentence, Hange sprinted towards me and placed both hands on my shoulders. She shared the eyes of someone who had just discovered a diamond... Actually, using that as a comparison to describe Hange's facial expression would probally be an understatement.

"Do you have any idea what this is!" Hange pointed at my tablet as though she was waiting eagerly for me to actually say something. I take a second to look at Kirito for advice about what to do... he just shrugged with a nervous smile.

Not knowing how to respond, I slowly nodded. I mean, in a way I wasn't really lying. I do know what this tablet is because it's mine and I would be more than happy to tell my new friends about it... I just can't talk yet.

"Truly, this is certainly unbelievable! This may just be-"

Interrupting Hange's sentence, Yuri cleared her throat, "Slow down Hange, I understand your excitement...well kinda...but don't go jumping to conclusion now. Like Shinoa said, it must just be a regular drawing app."

"It may be or may not be. Who knows! That still doesn't change one important factor: THIS! is the discovery of the century!" Hange declared with open arms and wide eyes, she pointed at the screen with all the data on it and my space ship, "This info! This beautiful creation! We are the very first souls to be laying eyes on it. Forget possible human threats, we may have just found actual evidence of another inhabited planet!"

While everyone was awestucked, I just stared confusingly as Hange was using _a lot_ of long words I didn't understand.

"All of the pieces we need is right here, in front of us!" Hange continued, more excited than ever. Even her assistant, Moblit, had stopped trying to calm Hange down as he actually seemed to be interested in what Hange was saying, "The only thing that stands in our way in some kind of advanced lock. A lock that can only be unlocked through a key of access and that KEY!" Hange raised her index finger, lifting immense suspense with it...she positioned her finger so that it was pointed at me. After a dramatic pause, Hange declared gently, "Is Rin."

Kirito, Sinon, Yuri, Kanade, Shinoa, Yu and Black all went silent. Well, Black was always silent.

But all of them didn't seem to have anything to say as their train of thought must've had a overload of coal. I felt a bit left out as I was the only one who didn't know what was happening. What did she mean by me being a key?

Like shattering glass during the suspenseful part of a video, Hange clapped her hands loudly, "Well what are we waiting for! Let's get to it! First we need to see if Rin-"

"Okay! Okay!" Shinoa interrupted causing Hange to stop dead in her tracts, "I think that's enough for one day."

Hange looked at Shinoa like she had gone mad, "What are you talking about? We're just about to sta-"

"Everyone needs a break," Shinoa interrupted again before looking at everyone including me, "I'm sure all of you are tired from all the explosions, magical transformations and of course... the melodramatic false alarm," Shinoa teased with an amused grin, "besides, it seems we've lost track of time."

Everyone except for me, either looked at an item that was wrapped around their wrist or looked at rectangular shape on the wall that said '22:30' on it.

"My gosh, it's that late already?" Yu asked in disbelief. "Man, time sure moved fast today."

"Well, Rin did sleep for a while after I gave her that sleeping drug." Shinoa added placing her hand beneath her chin.

"YOU DRUGGED HER!?" Yuri exclaimed glaring at Shinoa.

"Relax, I didn't add a dangerous amount, geez I'm not that sinister. It was better than using a needle. A needle would've probably made her panic even more." Shinoa countered like she was some sort of expert before facing me.

Like a small kid trying to find it's way past a huge crowd of grown ups, Hange tried to enter the conversation again, "But we could always-"

"Anyways! Before we even do anything that involves our cute adorable Rin," Shinoa placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, "I think we should show Rin here some hospitality...and give her some actual clothes...or at least some underwear." She said with a smile that looked a bit too playful.

I looked down at myself confusingly as Shinoa's words made no sense to me. I was wearing a hospital gown and...and yeah, I was wearing a hospital gown. What other clothes would I need to wear?

Well...I mean, sure I wasn't wearing pants but the gown I wore went from my neck down to my feet which managed to cover everything. Speaking of my feet, I just realised how icy cold the floor is.

Shivering in my chair, I lifted my legs and hugged my knees while holding onto my tablet. It wasn't freezing cold, but it was cold enough to a point where I could see my breath as I exhaled.

"Aww," Shinoa bent down until she was head level with me, she pouted, "Are you too cold? I'm so sorry, it does tend to get a bit cold when were in the air, especially at night. Don't worry, we'll get you something warm to wear that suits your taste." the girl stands up straight and asked, "This ship has one of those _clothes making_ things right?"

"Down the hallway, turn right and it should be through the door on your first left," Kanade replied looking at a device that had a map of the ship, "each ship is equipped with one to prevent sudden decrease of the crew's body temperature."

"How convenient!" Shinoa clapped her hands together before speaking as though she was the leader, "Kanade would you kindly lead the way and Yuri, carry her please."

Like second instincts, Kanade nodded and headed for the door while Yuri just looked at Shinoa, "Why me?"

"Well! Let's see, I think Kirito is already a bit tainted by carrying her here, the only thing Sinon can carry is a sniper gun, Black's stare itself is already scaring the bejeebers out of Rin and And Yu..." Shinoa didn't finished her sentence as she grinned teasingly at Yu. The man looked away with an expression that tried to form a poker face.

Black and Kirito had no comment while Sinon raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

Yuri then sighed which was followed by a tired, 'fine'. She walked leisurely towards me with her arms crossed. Yuri stood in front of me and offered her arms, "May I?"

I nodded politely and Yuri gently picked me up carrying me on her back. It felt very different to when Kirito carried me. She was a bit rough yet I could tell she was trying to be careful with me.

Shinoa began giggling at Yuri which earned an annoyed glare from Yuri, "What's so funny?"

"That's such a weird picture to look at," Shinoa commented looking up and down at Yuri carrying me, "is Rin...taller than you?"

Yuri's left eyebrow twitches viciously, I could basically feel the immense annoyed aura radiating from her back. Saying nothing, Yuri carried me out of the garage. I held tightly to my tablet making extra sure not to drop it while Kanade hanged on to my teddy bear.

As the distance between me and my ship increased. My ship returned to its rock form, much to Hange's dismay.

"Relax Hange, you'll get your chance," Shinoa assured as she followed after Yuri with casual steps. Black, Yu, and Sinon were already going their separate ways while Kirito gave me one last glance, "besides...we have plenty of time before we reach Headquarters."

* * *

With Yuri's assistance and Kanade's guidance, we reached yet another door.

For this door, Shinoa didn't have to type in a series of numbers into the keypad in order to the open the door. Instead she simply pressed a button and the door opened, similar to when we entered the garage.

Inside, I was greeted with a small room. It was smaller than the room I woke up in yet big enough to contain all four of us with some space to spare. On the sides of the room there were benches and curtains. On the right, the curtains were navy blue and the curtains on the left were magenta. The same lights that illuminated the hallways gave light to this room as well.

In the middle was a glass container with a black base. On each side of the box were 5 metal arms that had tools and pointy things as fingers. Attached to the box were minuscule containers that contained wool, leather and a lot of other clothing material. Pasted on the face of the glass container was some sort of digital drawing pad with a button that showed the words "Male or Female" on it. Above the box was a sign that read "Attire Materializer".

"Oh goody! Behold, the machine that provides both comfort and style," Shinoa rubbed her hands together as if she was a child who had just been given a new toy, "Let's get started shall we? Kanade can you measure her for me?"

Not uttering a word, Kanade pulled out her scanner again and scanned me. This time the colour of the scanner had changed from white to blue. While she did that, Yuri placed me on one of the benches before taking a seat next to me, "Just make sure it's something warm. The last thing we want is Rin to get ill."

I ignored what Kanade was doing as the thing that stood in the middle of the room caught my full attention. I looked at the glass box with utter interest. Like a miner who had just spotted a diamond, my eyes didn't look away from the glass container as Shinoa walked towards it.

Approaching the machine, Shinoa pressed a button and a... digital stylus appeared in Shinoa's hand.

Taken back by this sight, I stare in both awe and shock. The stylus Shinoa held in her hand was similar to the stylus that I used when drawing on my tablet. The stylus I used to create anything I wanted back in my world. The styles that I used to...

My shock transformed into confusion as the stylus that Shinoa held looked a bit different from mine. It was a different digital colour but even the feeling from looking at it felt different. I wonder why?

Multiple numbers appeared on Kanade's scanner and she handed it to Shinoa, "Here are her body measurements."

"Perfect," Shinoa thanked Kanade before copying the numbers into the machine. Shinoa then stopped to think, "Now then...Something warm huh?" she asked herself with a look of concentration. She looked focus but her posture was still relaxed and I couldn't feel any signs of tension from her. At first Shinoa just stood there thinking as if she was person who had stopped in the middle of a maze. She had stayed like that for a while so I almost jumped in my seat when Shinoa moved and pressed the button that said "female".

Like second nature, Shinoa began drawing on the digital drawing pad. Each movement of her hand looked really professional. Even her eyes were darting everywhere all over the drawing pad spotting every single detail of her drawing. Minutes later, Shinoa's drawing slowly became recognizable. She was drawing...clothes?

It wasn't 2D either. It was a 3D drawing so every aspect was highly visible from all angles. Shinoa continued, her hand not stopping for a single moment. Colour and shape were all done in precise detail making my drawings look like nothing.

After a few moments, Shinoa had finished. My brain was hungry to know how Shinoa manage to draw it so fast. Her drawing managed to capture every detail and part of the clothes that she drew. In fact, my eyes couldn't believe it was a drawing as it looked like a photo now that Shinoa was finished.

"Show off." I heard Yuri mumbled as Shinoa turned to look at me to bow as though she had just finished a magical performance. Well it was a magical performance in my eyes.

"Don't be too thrown off," Shinoa giggled at the sight of my reaction, "the best part has yet to come."

I titled my head wondering what Shinoa meant by that. My answer came charging in as Shinoa pressed a big green button on the drawing pad that said "Create".

The metal arms that rested on the side of the machine sprang into life almost throwing my heart out the window. The arms grabbed materials from the minuscule boxes and prepared it's tool hands. The arms bagan moving extremely fast to a point where I could only see a blurry tornado inside the glass box. In the center of the circle, clothes began meteralizing bit by bit.

Diluted with amazement, my eyes widened. The piece of clothing that was forming itself in the middle of the machine...looked exactly like the picture Shinoa drew.

Once the arms were done, the glass container opened and Shinoa casually reached inside with her arm and picked up the clothes that was created before my eyes.

"Kanade, would you kindly give Rin some assistance." Shinoa gave me a full view of her creation as she hand it to Kanade. Kanade just nodded and lead me into a smaller room that hid behind the magenta curtains, with Yuri's help of course.

I was starting to feel a bit guilty.

My legs were still not functional so I needed someone to help me to move which almost made me feel like a burden. I felt very grateful but my mouth could not express it as both my legs and throat still felt extremely weak...but better.

Approaching the magenta curtains, the curtains moved by themselves whenever we entered or exited the smaller room as though it was making way for us like a living creature. The smaller room itself had nothing special about it, just a mirror and bench to sit on. Although looking at the mirror brought immense confusion to me: my hair and eyes were brown. That's strange, I thought they were red.

After a few silent moments of Kanade helping me to get change, Kanade allowed the curtains to open by themselves showing Yuri and Shinoa what I was wearing. I was sitting down on the bench but you could see my clothing from both sides thanks to the mirror.

I wore a flurry, pink jacket that somehow managed to make my skinny figure look bigger. On my head was a beanie with a cute kitten design to it. Below I wore a skirt that had magenta and white striped to it combined with black stockings and boots. To my surprised, it fitted me perfectly as though the size was created just for me. Maybe it was.

Seeing clearly what I looked like through the mirror, I snuggled inside my jacket as it felt warm. I no longer felt cold but I have to admit, I felt a bit heavier than usual. I look over to Shinoa, Kanade and Yuri to see what they think.

Kanade gave a small nod with a thumbs up, "It's good."

"Too bulky," Yuri said bluntly, "it doesn't suit her slim figure. Maybe something less thick."

Shinoa just looked at Yuri with an amused grin, "Weren't you the one who said-"

"Next!" Yuri interrupted. She placed her left leg over her right, already settling comfortably into her seat.

A brief giggle escaped Shinoa's mouth before she faced me, "Sorry Rin, you gotta change."

I nodded, not bothered at all as Kanade went to assist me again. I didn't really mind what clothes I wore actually, anything would do if you asked me. Although Shinoa and Yuri seemed to know a lot about clothing so I left them to do the choosing.

Like second nature, my eyes darted back to Shinoa as she picked up her stylus again to draw. After seeing it once, I was ready to take in every moment of Shinoa's skill for drawing. Due to her playfulness, I never expected Shinoa to have such a talent for drawing. Can everyone here draw as well as her?

The girl began, her stylus sprinting across the drawing pad as well as a painter. Worried about missing anything, my eyes refused to blink as I watched enjoying every moment of bliss that Shinoa was showing me.

However it was short-lived as Yuri interrupted, "Can you just used one of the saved files? It's going to take way too long if you're going to draw each one."

"Aww, but where's the fun in that?"

"Shinoa."

"Fine, fine." Much to my disappointment, Shinoa sighed in defeat as her stylus disappeared and her progress was deleted. She pushed yet another button that rested on top of the glass container. On screen, the drawing pad switched into a digital folder. The folder was filled with thousands and thousands of what seemed like already drawn pictures of clothing.

Seeing the pictures, my disappointment shape shifted into exceptional awe as each drawing presented on the screen were incredibly detailed. It was like someone had snatched the original from real life and pasted it on a screen. Simply looking at them managed to put me in a trance. The fact that Shinoa kept swiping to the next saved filed without letting me to see each drawing fully, left a feeling of hunger in my eyes as if plates of delicious food were zooming past me.

"Oh my so much to choose from," Shinoa commented to herself as she kept swiping, "shall I just pick by random?"

"If you really have to." Yuri replied crossing her arms, "just don't take too long."

After receiving permission, Shinoa swiped one more time but this time with more force causing the screen to zoom past hundreds of pictures. It zoomed past so many picture in such a short time that it just looked like a blurry rainbow in my eyes.

Eventually, it slowed down and the screen stopped at one of the pictures. Following after that, Shinoa pressed the "Create" button and once again, the metal arms go to work. Creating the same piece of clothing that was drawn in the picture that Shinoa picked by random.

"Try this."

Few moments later, Kanade opened the curtains revealing my new outfit.

Joining Yuri and Shinoa with the judging, I looked at the mirror to see: unlike the last one, this was one felt much lighter and simple. It was a white flower dress that went from my shoulders to the ground making it look a bit too long for me. Although that's not what grabbed my attention, it was the fact that you could faintly see my skin through the dress.

Kanade gave a small nod with a thumbs up, "It's good."

"Eww, it's a bit too see through for her taste." Shinoa was the one this time to make a comment.

"Next!" Yuri exclaimed not even bothered to give her opinion.

Going with the flow, I simply nodded waiting for Shinoa to chose the next one.

The next one was very different to the other two. I was starting to realised that all the piece of clothing I will be wearing are probally going to be different from each other. Each one had something unique about that, in this case, I was now wearing a furry coat which was paired with what Shinoa called jeans. The coat didn't feel too heavy nor was it too light, although the fur on the collar did tickle my neck a little.

"Too ticklish for you huh?" Shinoa asked me.

I just shrugged not knowing whether this was 'my taste' or not. What did they even mean by that? I looked over to Kanade to see what she thinks.

Kanade gave a small nod with a thumbs up, "It's good."

"The jeans doesn't match with the coat," Yuri criticised like she was already an expert, "Next!"

Another few moments raced by, as the curtains opened again, I see that what I wore was much more simpler: A red shirt with pink dots printed all over it which matched with the pants perfectly as there were blue and pink stripes on it.

Kanade gave a small nod with a thumbs up, "It's good."

Shinoa agreed, "Yeah, I mean we don't want to go for anything too complicated."

Yuri thought otherwise, "Eugh, too casual, NEXT!"

The curtains opened by themselves revealing my next outfit: I wore blue-green shorts that reached up to my knees along with a very loose shirt. It seemed like everyone forgot that we were suppose to get something warm for me. Not that I was complaining, this one seemed cool but the thing about it that kept me wondering was that the very loose shirt left an area of exposed skin near my chest-area.

Kanade gave a small nod with a thumbs up, "It's good."

"Next!" Once again, it seemed Yuri didn't even need to express her opinion about the clothes for some obvious reason that I didn't know about.

"Yeah, gotta agree with her on this one," Shinoa nodded with agreement, "sorry Rin, this one is only for girls who've got an 'abundance' in the breast area."

I just shrugged not understanding what Shinoa meant by that although I noticed Yuri groaning so I assumed it was another one of her jokes.

I waited patiently as Kanade helped me get changed out of the shirt and shorts. The white-haired girl handed the clothes to Shinoa like she did with the previous ones.

Just when she was about to chuck it on the pile of the other clothes I wore, Shinoa looked it with great interest, "I actually might keep this."

Yuri raised an eyebrow as she looked at Shinoa's flat chest, "Didn't you just say-"

"Hey I'm still growing you know," Shinoa interrupted with a proud smile placing her hands on her hips, "I'm going to be just like my sister and I'll have you know, my sister has got huge boobs." Shinoa made a weird shape in front of her flat chest with her arms.

Once again, Yuri just groaned in annoyance, "I know! That's the third time you've told me about your sister's breast."

"Well..." Shinoa suddenly grinned mischievously as though an idea had hit her. She looked at Yuri with sly eyes as she said in a low tone, _"it is in Shinoa's character to do that after all."_

A total blackout of sound was heard after Shinoa's strange statement. Somehow, that statement manage to change the atmosphere dramatically like a building falling on top of a peaceful forest. Relaxed postures turned into alarmed positions, even Kanade showed a bit of concern on her face. I shivered in fear afraid at the thought that I might've have done something wrong. But to my confusion, the attention wasn't focused on me this time.

Yuri glared at Shinoa as if she had just committed a terrible crime, "Shinoa!" she hissed, "you can't-"

"Relax, there's no way someone would be watching us from all the way up here, it's impossible," Shinoa shrugged off Yuri's glare, returning to her usual playful smile, "Besides, think of it as me giving Rin here a tiny little...hint. Apart from that, are we not creating a character outfit for her? If you think about it, it's almost like we're unconsciously setting Rin up to be a... you know."

"You're thinking too far ahead," Yuri countered, "We don't even know they're going to do with Rin when we get to HQ... and isn't that a decision Rin has to make herself?"

Shinoa just shrugged, "Who knows. But Kirito is already interested in her for some reason...so it is a possibility."

A wave of intense silence washed over the group like a flood and my brain was drowned in questions: what did Shinoa do? Why is Yuri so concerned? What's happening? What does the word 'character' mean? What did she mean by hint? What does Kirito have to do with all this? Is something wrong?

Out of the horde of questions that were rampaging in my head, one question stood up, so much taller than all the others that it was practically impossible to ignore it...why did Shinoa just speak in third person?

Slicing the tense atmosphere in half, Kanade walked up to the machine, picked another picture by random and pressed the 'create' button before I could question further.

"Moving on..." was all that managed to escape Kanade's mouth that always remained closed most of the time.

After throwing a few skeptical looks at Shinoa, Yuri sighed and returned to her relaxed positioned and we all continued as though nothing had happened.

Surprisingly, the topic was dropped quite easily.

In fact, I found myself completely forgetting about it as the next outfit I wore had a very strange unique feature to it: while the white shirt and blue jacket I wore seemed normal, the dark blue jeans I wore had parts of it that were ripped. As in, I was actually wearing ripped jeans.

Why are they ripped though? Was there a mistake when drawing the picture? Why would anyone wear jeans that are ripped? To recycle?

"Don't worry about it Rin." Shinoa assured noticing my confused look.

"I never understood that trend." Kotori expressed honestly to the group.

Kanade gave a small nod with a thumbs up, "It's go-"

"Next!"

The outfit following afterwards was one that Shinoa had chosen herself and surprisingly...it was even more odd than the last one. The clothes I wore used the colours black and white. Other than that, I couldn't really put my hand around it. What I wore was a bit too complicated for me to describe.

Building onto my curiosity, even Kanade herself didn't seem to have any comments about the clothes I wore.

After looking at me for a good 30 seconds, Yuri looked at Shinoa with an annoyed expression, "Seriously?"

Shinoa just giggled innocently, "Don't look at me, I'm simply using trial and error."

"You just wanted to know what Rin would look like in a Maid's Uniform." Yuri hypothesised, hitting the nail exactly where it stood.

I stared with a tilted head. So the dress I wore was called a Maid's Uniform? What does the word 'uniform' mean and what's a maid?

Kotori took in a deep breath and I assumed she was about to say "next" but I guess the words got caught in her throat when the door to the room opened.

It was Sinon entering the room carrying a tray of food, almost making my mouth water. I didn't even notice how hungry I was and after the food they gave me this morning, I was eager for more. Hunger...I never felt hunger back in my world.

"Hey guys, we noticed you were taking a long time so I bought some fo-" the rest of Sinon's sentence was chopped off when her eyes laid on me wearing the so called 'Maid's Uniform'. She looked at Shinoa and Yuri as though they had gone insane, "what are you girls doing?"

Kanade shrugged while Yuri just pointed at Shinoa.

"Oh nothing, we were just trying to find something that suits Rin." Shinoa said as if seeing a blue moon was normal.

"So you gave her a maid's outfit?" Sinon asked blankly.

"Yep!"

Sinon sighed as she walked towards me with the tray of food, "Sorry about them Rin, you'll just have to deal with them. Here's your meal, it isn't that much but it should be enough to keep you going."

"Aww, how nice of you." Shinoa beamed, with a hidden meaning in her voice.

"Get your own food Shinoa." Sinon replied coldly, deciphering the hidden meaning in Shinoa's voice in an instance.

Still wearing the strange outfit, I nodded with eyes of gratitude as I looked down at the tray that was present in front of me. There was a glass of water, a spoon, and according to Sinon's description, on the plate was steaming mash potato and steak. I thought it was plenty but according to Sinon, the steak was quite small compared to how big 'normal' steaks are.

Breathing in through my nose, I discover the smell of the mash potato and steak. The savoury smell of the food made it feel fresh even though apparently it wasn't.

I digged in. Similar to the curry and rice I ate this morning, my imagination ran wild as the taste of the food overwhelmed my mouth. It was a completely different taste, but had its own unique features. The mash potato melted into my mouth while the steak produced this delicious liquid everytime I bit into it. I continued eating hastly while also trying not to burn my tongue like last time. Already halfway done, I finally noticed something as my eyes travelled around the room.

I was the only one eating. In fact, everyone was just watching me eat making me feel nervous.

Thinking that they must also be hungry from watching me eat, I felt a bit guilty. So I picked up my plate of food gently and offered some of it to them.

They all quickly denied, although Shinoa seemed so touched by my offer saying things like, "Awww! That's so cute!"

I looked at Sinon.

"It's okay, you can have all of it," Sinon assured me with a small smile, "there's plenty of food left and I just ate."

I looked at Kanade.

Kanade polietly lifted her hand and waved it which was probably her way of saying, "no thank you".

I looked at Yuri.

"I'll eat after this." Yuri gestured her hand, telling me to help myself.

I looked at Black.

Black's facial expression didn't even move a millimetre as she kept glaring at me.

I looked at Shin- My brain realised who I just looked at and my eyes darted back to Black almost jumping in surprise. There she was, sitting in the corner of the room, her blue circular eyes staring straight into mine. I gulped as a question sprinted into my mind: was Black always here with us? Since when was she-

I heard the sound of Shinoa's giggles. Now that Shinoa was closer to me this time, I noticed the dryness in her tone of voice. It was hard to describe it though.

"You didn't notice?" Shinoa asked me with a grin, "She entered the room when you were watching me draw, Black has been sitting there this whole time."

My eyes walked back to Black. Originally I was a bit embarrassed but it was quickly wiped away when I saw her expression again. Her face showed no emotions similar to Kanade yet it was different. Kanade would sometimes show sparks of her feelings with occasional gentle and kind gestures like carrying my teddy bear. Black's face however looked like an unmoving picture of a facial expression that didn't care about anything. Not to mention the only time I've ever heard her talk was when she introduced herself. Ever since then, she was just glaring at me- wait no...she's not glaring...the room is smaller than all the other rooms so the distance between me and Black wasn't that long giving me a closer look. Leaning forward a bit, I noticed that Black seemed more like she was observing me rather than glaring at me. But why? And what made me think she was glaring at me? Maybe her stare just regularly feels like a glare. Or is it just me?

I snapped back into reality as I remembered there was still food for me to eat and water to drink. I grabbed the spoon again and continued, making sure not to take too long so my friends don't have to wait that long. Although that didn't prove as a problem as eating the meal managed to turn minutes into seconds as I finished it in an instance.

With that, Shinoa clapped her hands together with a fun smile, "Well! Shall we continue?"

I ended up trying a lot of different types of clothes after that. The range of choices was limitless as each one somehow produced their own uniqueness. However each time, Yuri would have something to say about it so we kept moving to the next one. Even Sinon joined in, giving her own opinion on each piece of clothing, both the good and the bad. Kanade agreed with all of them though while Shinoa seemed to have forgotten that we were suppose to get something warm.

Black didn't utter a single word though out the whole thing.

Having to constantly keep changing clothes like this, honestly didn't bother me at all. Now that I think about it, I actually found myself enjoying this. I'm not sure why. It was just, I felt this sense of adrenaline every-time they proceeded to pick something new. I was like a bee in a huge flower garden. Each flower, or piece of clothing in this case, brought something interesting and new as I tried them on. The feeling of having to see something new, excited me even at the thought of it. What made it even better was each time, I could turn to my new friends to see what they think.

I wore a variety of clothes: wool or leather coats, pink and red gowns, lots jackets and jumpers with colours I never knew even existed, dark coloured skirts, blouses which felt very light, long or short pants and a whole bunch of other clothe items I couldn't name. We even reached a point where I was trying out the outfits of my friends. First I wore a copy of Shinoa's black and green uniform much to Shinoa's delight, then Yuri's school uniform which according to her was called a sailor uniform and at one point, someone had somehow stolen Black's jacket and I tried that out too, although it was way too big for me.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yu and Kirito were casually hanging out in the one of the hallways of the ship, each holding a cup of coffee.

Yu looked at his watch that now said 00:15, "Maybe it was a bad idea to send Sinon in there." Kirito didn't answer as his eyes of contemplation stared at the surface of his untouched coffee. Noticing this, Yu placed a gentle hand on Kirito's shoulder, "You alright?"

"Yeah..." Kirito slowly replied looking up from his coffee, "It's nothing, I just..."

It was hard for Kirito to put it into words. Ever since then, the thought of it refused to leave his train of thought.

(FLASHBACK: Chapter 2)

Kirito raised his hand and...he hesitated for a moment...before he finally pressed it.

A series of images flashed through Kirito's vision. The images went by one by one so fast that Kirito didn't have time to process what they were. All he could gather from the images was that there was a man and a child.

He then heard a voice.

 _"I'll be leaving her in your care now."_

(FLASHBACK END)

"It's nothing," Kirito concluded before changing the subject, "is Rin going to be alright with those girls?"

Yu just sighed as though he had just been through up and down a mountain, "Honestly, I'm not even sure at this point."

* * *

"You know what this feels like?" Shinoa asked as she laid down on the floor in defeat, clothes that I've tried and worn were scatted all over the floor, "You know those anime episode fillers where all the characters go shopping for clothes and you get to see this montage of one of the cute characters trying out all different types of clothes."

Yuri placed her hand over her forehead as if she was checking herself for any fevers, "Believe me, I've watched way too many of those."

Sinon yawned like a sleepy sloth, "What time is it?"

I looked around at all my friends. They seemed to be drained of their energy even though we've only been trying out clothes which seemed strange to me.

Unless trying out different types of clothing is normally considered an exercise in this world and I'm the strange one. I mean, I seemed to be the only one in the room who was wide awake. Even Kanade herself looked half asleep, her eyes closing and opening every so often. The fact that she was still hugging my teddy bear didn't help her stay awake either.

A look of worry washed over my face as I wonder if something is wrong with all them. All of them looked like they could collapse as any moment. Well, they were all already lying down on the benches and floor. You could tell by the look in their eyes that they were all already on their way to the dream world.

I then began questioning myself again: did I do something to make them all tired? How long have we've been doing this? What do I do now? Do I just wait here until they wake up? After all, I can't go anywhere without their help. My legs still feel weak and I can't wake them up since my voice has yet to show any signs of working.

Deciding that waiting would be the best option, I looked around the room, wondering what to do. It wasn't until then that I remembered _it_.

My tablet. It was there, seating right to me as though it was begging for my touch. Having to use this tablet almost every day of my life, I felt connected to it in some weird way. Back then, it was like a partner to me. It used to be something I simply checked at the beginning of each day but now that I'm not in my world anymore...my world...wait, that world that belonged to me. The world where I would create and explore in...

What clothes did I wear when I was in that world?

I actually never thought of that or paid any attention to it cause I never thought it would be relevant yet here I am.

Almost like instincts, my hands grabbed my tablet before my brain could even tell me to do it. If I was going to get any clues, it was going to be from this. Although I'm not sure what type of clues to look for

I allowed my finger to touched the smooth surface of my tablet's screen, springing it to reality. Before I never paid attention to it since I used to see it every day, but now I observed everything: every pixel that moved and took note of what colour certain parts of the screen was.

I was presented with a familiar sight. Very familiar. A series icons that each did their own thing: Music, calendar, notes, chat, the icon that used to changed my room into a bathroom and of course the drawing icon.

Seeing that the drawing icon almost scared everyone last time, I decided to stay away from that. I still don't know why though. I remember Shinoa saying something about "needing a field for it to work" although I didn't understand what she meant when she said that. But then again, I remember my friends saying a lot of thing that I didn't understand.

Looking around my tablet, I checked for my options: I already checked chat, barely wrote anything in notes, music wasn't going to give me any clues, that icon that changed my room into a bathroom probably doesn't work anymore since my room isn't even here and I don't think I've ever used that calendar.

The more I searched for what the other icons could do, the more I get closer to that dead end. These were all icons that were available to me for most of my life so I knew them like the back of my hand. So looking through all this, was like searching for a jewel in a maze that I created.

But as those recognisable dead ends got closer and closer, I stared hopefully yet doubtfully at the screen of my tablet looking for some sort of hint. At this point I was just staring at the main screen of the-

Appearing from the corner of my eye, a gloved finger revealed itself and pointed at one of the icons of my tablet.

I jumped as my heart almost blasted into the sky. I turned and looked with shock. Black had moved from the corner of the room...to sitting right next to me without me noticing.

I was completely engulfed by my tablet that I never noticed. I couldn't help but feel tensed as her aura felt a bit intimidating. Very intimidating.

Saying absolutely nothing, Black eyes moved but her head stayed completely still. She stared at me for a few seconds probably wondering what I was so shocked about.

Black Rock Shooter. Her name still sparked a bunch of questions into my mind but right now it was hard to think. I felt pressured somehow. Like one wrong move would be my downfall. With her right next to me, I saw what she looked like in great detail: her extremely pale skin, glowing circular eyes and mysterious aura.

Black looked back at my tablet and once again pointed at one of the icons on my tablet. Finally realising that she was trying to tell me something I slowly turned my head and looked to where she pointed.

If my throat wasn't so weak, I would've gasped at the revelation. I felt really dumb for not noticing it before.

There was a new icon.

An icon that I knew for sure wasn't there before. Also, it literarily had the word 'new' written across the corner of the icon.

The icon has the picture of an open empty book on it and it was titled:

 **History**

I stared with pure astonishment. It changed. It was a small change but nonetheless, _change_ still felt very foreign to me. I looked back at Black to see what she thought about it.

Black didn't say anything. She simply motioned her head, telling me to press it. I nervously looked back at the new icon. I didn't know what the word 'history' meant but if it appeared in my tablet, that means I can trust it...right?

With only one way to find out, I clicked the icon bringing me to a brand new page. I don't know why but I flinched after pressing it as if something was going to go wrong.

The new page was unlike anything I've seen before on this tablet. On this new page, I was presented with a lot of...videos...videos of...me?

There were loads of them. In rows of five, I kept scrolling down to find more and more of these videos. Each had a thumbnail of me either drawing on my tablet or exploring my creations along with a play button. The amount seemed to be endless as I couldn't reach the bottom of the page no matter how much I scrolled down...although I wasn't really scrolling down that fast.

But what were these videos? Why do the thumbnails have pictures of me? Are they real? Where did they all come from and why are there so many of them?

Before the icy winds of bafflement could freeze my tracks, a guess tackled my train of thought as it was the only thing I could think of. I'm not sure what to think if my guess actually turns out to be true though.

With Black watching intently over my shoulder, I randomly picked a video and lifted my finger to press play.

By now, everyone else in the room had fallen asleep but I failed to notice that when the video started playing. My eyes became so immersed on the screen as if I was actually there as soon as it started playing. In fact, I was there in the video. The film was literally just showing footage of me, going through my everyday life back in my digital world.

Like right now the video was just me sleeping in bed. It felt a bit strange watching myself. With wide eyes that didn't know how to blink, I saw myself get up from bed with a sleepy expression and check emails like I used to every other day. I looked at my expression when I was checking my tablet.

Is that what my facial expression looked like every time I checked emails?

In the video, I looked very motivated yet empty... I still remember that feeling.

I watched as the numbers on my past self's tablet popped up:

*No messages in 2394 days*

I... actually remembered that day. I remembered seeing those numbers on my tablet, I remembered what I was thinking at that exact moment and all the things I did afterwards.

Watching the video of me exploring, creating and thinking. All of it was like revision to me.

But now another question had erupted from my mind: so everything I did back in that digital world was recorded? Why?

I continued watching in silence as my eyes never wanted to leave the screen.

It wasn't till minutes into the video that I began paying attention to the clothes I was wearing. Yes I was getting sidetracked, but part of my mind was still on the subject of clothes after all.

I waited for a moment to catch the right angle where a good view of my clothes were properly visible.

Almost right after I did that, I saw Black's gloved finger point straight at it. My heart jumped as I forgot Black was right next to me...again. It was either because I was too engaged or Black's presence is just that unnoticeable. Her mouth remained shut and her facial expression still looked like a frozen image with eyes that moved every so often.

Pointing at the clothes I wore in the video, Black looked at me. She didn't say anything but I still managed to catch her question:

Do you want to wear that?

I looked back at the clothes I wore. It's not as flashy as all the other clothes I've tried but Yuri and Shinoa did want something that suited me. I'm not sure if those clothes suited me but it was what I used to wear every day so...

I looked back at Black and nodded. At first, I was worried that I was giving Black more work and I was bothering her but all my worry disappeared as the expression on her face showed that she didn't really mind. Well, her facial expression didn't really show any signs of thought in the first place.

My nod was met with intense silence. Black spent a good minute or two just staring straight at the clothes I wore in the video...

Just before second began transforming into hours, Black stood up.

Originally I thought she was going to wake up Shinoa but to my surprise, Black approached the so called "Attire Materialiser" herself and the stylus that Shinoa used before appeared in her hand, but not before taking off her glove.

As the digital files turned back into a drawing pad, a question hits me in the head: Black can draw?

Now that her glove was off, I noticed that her hand was just as pale as her skin.

Which brought me to one of my other questions: how is Black so pale? Is that a normal thing in this world? As much as it burnt my curiosity, I wasn't going to ask her about it anytime soon since Black doesn't talk much, so I doubt she would tell me.

Before I knew it, Black had began her drawing. Her stylus sprinted left, right, up, down and all over the drawing pad like it was second nature to her. Her blue circular eyes rapidly dashed to wherever her hand moved to. Despite doing the same activity Shinoa did before, everything about her style of drawing was so different to Shinoa's. The only similarity was that both drawing style made my drawings look like dust.

Now that I saw it for a second time. It was almost like I could see the person's personality through their drawing.

So maybe everyone on this ship can draw.

It wasn't long till her lines, colouring and neat scribbling slowly began taking the beautiful form of clothes. But before that form became more visible, Black abruptly yet gently stopped drawing and looked at me.

At first I wondered what she wanted but after she pointed at my tablet, I realised she wanted to take another look. She needed revision which made sense since she was basically drawing a copy of my clothes.

I turned my tablet and positioned it so that Black had a good view of my screen from where she was standing. If there was one thing I understood from previous conversations, it was that I was the only one who could use this tablet. When Kirito tried using it, it turned to stone. I wonder why? ...To think I was planning to lend my tablet to that mysterious purple haired girl without knowing that. Maybe that's why things glitched out when I tried to give it to her.

After a few moments, Black continued drawing while occasionally looking back at my screen. I stared with complete awe. Drawing was something I loved doing. It was a way for me to remember what the feeling of 'new' tasted like.

I would draw everyday out of habit but my skills were nothing compared to Black's. I wonder if I'll be able to draw like that one day.

My train of thought stopped in it's tracks as before I knew it, Black had finished. The moment had past like an object zooming past me, faster than the wind. Is this what Yu meant when he said time flies?

Without even giving me a second to see the full drawing, Black pressed the 'create' button and the metal hands went to work immediately. It took much longer than all the others but slowly I saw the clothes form bit by bit.

Despite having already seeing it many times before, the sight of those metal arms creating an exact image of whatever was drawn on that drawing pad still amazed me.

The glass box opened, revealing a fresh copy of the outfit that I wore everyday when I was back in that world. It looked so much like the real thing that looking at it made me think I was just seeing things.

Black picked it up and helped me changed.

It was silent whilst changing, to a point where my ears began hearing all minuscule sounds like the buzzing noise of the clothes machine. The atmosphere around Black wasn't that tense but it was enough to make me feel alarmed... yet safe.

Back in that world, I never really changed clothes. I always slept and did my daily routine using the same clothes. The only other thing I had ever worn back then was this long black coat that I used from time to time. Speaking of that black coat and beanie, I might want to get that too just in case it gets too cold. Although I feel like I'm already asking for too much. I might ask another time.

The curtains opened and we both looked. I'm still not sure if this is up to Yuri's standards but it did fit me very well in my opinion, probably because I used to wear it everyday. I never really paid much attention to what I wore back then but now I was looking at every aspect of my outfit. But no matter how much I looked, it was quite simple really. I wore a white bow and a pink dress combined with a soft white overcoat and long sleeves. What shocked me the most about it though was the feeling of it was almost exactly like the original.

It surprisingly felt very familiar and thanks to it, I was no longer cold, although I may end up needing that black coat I mentioned earlier if my legs get too cold since they weren't covered. Besides that, it's the first thing that felt native to me.

I looked over to my friends to see what they think, only to be reminded that they were all sleeping. I didn't want to disturb them but it confused me greatly to see that they were able to sleep without beds. I didn't know you could do that? Aren't beds a 'need to have' thing when it comes to sleeping?

Before my mind could begin to wander about my friends, Black bent down and carried me with her arms without any signs of warning.

Then, in a soft and impassive voice, I heard her say, "Get some rest."

At first I was worried about the others and the big mess of clothes we made but my mind soon forgot all that as a soft inaudible yawn escaped my mouth. It seemed my fatigue had finally kicked in.

Snuggling up within in Black's arms, my eyes began to drift slowly to darkness. I instinctively decided to let Kanade keep my teddy bear for the night as she was hugging it in her sleep. I wasn't really bothered, in fact it made me a feel bit glad.

Blurry darkness was all I could see now as all my thoughts began floating away.

It was the end of yet another day. A day I would always remember as the moment where everything changed.

* * *

"Shall we have a toast?"

The request was followed by cheers of agreement. We were all gathered around a table in right side of the garage. Laughing, chattering and sometimes they cheered.

I looked around a bit confused: they said we should have a toast...but I don't see any toast on the table.

Instead of toast, each one of my friends had a glass of red liquid in their hand, except for me for some reason. They were all celebrating my arrival with me in the very centre of the group.

Hange lifted her glass of red liquid, "A toast! To our amazing discovery that will change mankind. And of course! A toast to our new friend Rin."

Everyone looked at me with bight, proud smiles. I couldn't help but share their happiness as I smiled happily back at all them with pure joy. Words could not explain the feeling of euphoria I felt at that moment. That moment when everyone raised their glass of red wine and clinked them together. It was a weird yet satisfying 'clink' to hear.

The room was filled with excitement.

We talked.

We laughed.

We cheered.

Everything was just right.

...

Then everything went silent.

I looked up from the table and forward at the left side of the garage.

There was a man standing on the opposite side of us, alone.

I leaned my head closer to see who it was.

Only to back away a bit as if I my head had just been struck by lightning.

 _Dad?_

My dad stood there, on the opposite side of the garage, looking at me.

He wasn't smiling.

I looked around the table to see that all of my friends had mysteriously disappeared.

I was alone.

Alone in the room... with my dad.

I looked straight at him with eyes of confusion.

 _Dad?_

Without saying anything, without waving goodbye or even blinking, my dad turned his back away from me and began walking away.

 _Dad? Where are you going?_

My legs magically revived from it's weak state and I find myself sprinting towards my dad without even thinking.

 _No... Dad come back!_

The environnent around me changed. We were no longer in the garage.

We were back in our neighbourhood where our home used to be.

Everything was in flames.

My dad stood at the end of the street still walking away.

Houses collapsed.

I sprinted with all my might as I could see myself catching up to him.

Debris fell.

 _Dad please! Don't go!_

I caught up with him. Ignoring the flames around us, I threw my arm forward and grabbed my dad's arm. He stopped walking and I hanged onto his arm, not wanting to let go.

Only...it wasn't my dad anymore... It was Kirito.

Kirito turned and looked at me confusingly, "Rin? What's wrong?'

I looked around desperately searching. But no matter how much I searched, my dad was gone.

 _Where's my dad?_

"Your dad?" Kirito asked, even more confused, "Why do you want to see him?"

I looked at Kirito, not believing the words that he had just uttered.

 _What do you mean?_

Kirito looked at me with a straight face.

Explosions of fire were heard from all directions yet I clearly heard every word Kirito spoke:

"Have you forgotten?... **You left him** remember?"

The ground disappeared and I fell through the floor into a void of darkness.

I was drowning.

I was crying.

I was falling.

I looked up and saw my dad looking down at me, getting further and further.

I desperately stretched my arm as far I could and grabbed-

* * *

"RIN!"

I sat straight up and grabbed Kirito's arm, panting heavily for air while panicking drastically.

Kirito placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, "Rin, Rin, Calm down, It's okay, breathe...it's okay, just breathe."

I calmed down, taking a few deep breaths like Kirito said. My heart slowly stopped beating rapidly and my panicking stopped.

After a few more deep breaths, I quickly realised the iron grip I had on Kirito's arm. I let go of his arm and bowed apologetically in embarrassment.

Kirito just laughed gently with a kind smile, "It's fine. Don't worry about that. It's you I'm worried about, are you okay? It seems you had another nightmare."

Nightmare? Nightmare. That's right, I was just dreaming. None of that was actually real.

Relieved at the thought, I slowly nodded at Kirito as I looked around. I was in the room I first originally woke up in. The room looked exactly the same as I last saw it, only emptier as it was only Kirito and I in the room. I was back in bed with Kirito seating on a chair next to right side of the bed.

"That's twice in a row," Kirito pointed out with concern, "do you usually have them?"

I shook my head honestly. This was all new to me and I was basically just as confused as Kirito at this point. I looked down in guilt as I felt helpless, not being able to be of any use.

Noticing my guilt, Kirito assured me with a kind voice, "Don't let it bother you, dreams are usually always like that anyway. It's just stuff our mind makes up subconsciously while were sleeping."

I stared at Kirito confused. He used another very long word I didn't understand, but what he said about dreams did catch my interest.

"At any rate, Hange wanted to see you as soon as you woke up." Kirito continued, standing up from his seat to stretch.

Judging from the way he stretched, it seemed he had been siting on that chair for a while. I wonder how long?

"But first, we should probably get you some lunch," Kirito offered me his hand, "shall we go?"

I nodded gently at him giving permission. Like last time, he carried me on his back with no struggle. I carried my tablet on my own though since I'm the only who can touch it. That's still a mystery to me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pretty much hugging him so I didn't fall off since he was very tall. I rested my chin on his shoulder looking over him. The warm feeling I felt from him made me feel...at home somehow.

As we headed for the door, a different kind of question entered my mind: did I miss breakfast?

* * *

It was a quick stop.

We stopped at this door that led into a room that Kirito called the 'cafeteria'.

It was quite roomy yet not as big as the Main Bridge Room.

Shaped in rectangles, there were two rows of metal tables with four chair in each. Every table and chair was nailed to the floor for some reason.

In the corner of the room was this extremely fancy looking, blue dispenser which somehow supplied Kirito with my food.

It was the same from yesterday. Small steak with mash potato and a glass of water, exactly what Sinon gave me. Except Kirito had added one small addition.

He had added these strange green vegetables which looked like mini tress in my eyes. Kirito said they were called broccolis.

Without even questioning it, I gave it a try and ate one. The taste of it was...fascinating. It didn't give the same exciting taste as the steak and mash potatoe yet in a way, it felt refreshing. When I combined them together, they created a very interesting taste that somehow balanced both flavours.

Kirito didn't eat and instead just got himself a drink. I couldn't tell what he was drinking though.

After we finished, I got back on Kirito's back and we went on our way to which I presume is the garage.

* * *

The hallways were the same from the last I saw them. Empty and no signs of the outside.

It was only me and Kirito this time walking through the hallway.

My eyes were looking forward but my mind drifted elsewhere.

That dream.

I know it was is just a nightmare. It's just a dream where everything was just made up, just like Kirito said... but the words I heard in that nightmare didn't want to leave me alone:

 _ **You left him** , remember? _

Those words of anxiety echoed in my mind. Did I? Did I really leave him to di...no, I would never do that. He was everything to me, I would never abandoned him. I never had a choice, I would've chose to...to...

"I like your dress by the way," Kirito complemented, slapping me out of my deep thoughts, "you girls must've tried everything considering the mess you left behind."

I temporary forgot what I was just thinking about.

It wasn't until Kirito mentioned it that the memories of yesterday came crashing in my mind.

Clothes. I looked at my sleeves. That's right, I'm wearing these clothes now. I completely forgot about that. It felt so natural that the fact that my friends went through hours trying to get me this almost seemed unbelievable.

It was fun though... Fun.

Usually when I found something 'fun' to do, I'll do it over and over and over until I get bored of it. But I guess things are different now, if trying out clothes is that lively, I wonder what other activities this world has in store.

"it suits you very nicely. Very unique. Did you make it?" Kirito asked in a friendly tone.

I shook my head. It was actually Black who made it but I couldn't say. My throat still seemed very weak like my legs. I was hoping they would heal overnight but I guess it's going to take longer.

Speaking of who, I wonder where Black went. She must've brought me back to my bed when I fell asleep in her arms. I should thank her later.

"Kanade still has your teddy bear by the way," Kirito said with a chuckled, "it was actually quite intriguing seeing her sleep with it. She'll eventually give it back though so don't worry about that."

I nodded softly not bothered at all. My dad would've wanted me to share it anyway.

Approaching ahead, a familiar door took form in front my vision.

"You ready?"

I nodded determinedly.

Kirito then proceeded to open the automatic door with a button and entered the garage where everyone was waiting.

* * *

 **A/N Okay! I just realised this part was way too focused on clothes, don't worry, I promise part 2 of this chapter will be more eventful.**

 **ANYWAYS, reviews! Thank you to all who review and support this series and I'm really sorry for the long wait. Thank you to tendaysromeo, damnlastwords, someonestupED, Ijustwannahelp, Artyom-Dreizehn, Thundercharger for reviewing.**

Mernom: **Yeah sorry about that, I tend to get lazy about that. but like I said, I proofread this chapter so you should find less typos. I hope.**

Ijustwannahelp **: I just want to say thank you again because I really do enjoy reading your long reviews, please keep writing them. You made a really good point about the "Rin moves a body part" scene, yeah I think I was too committed to that scene, I'll make sure not to do that again. While my OCs are major characters in my other stories, in this story they'll only make secret cameos here and there, but that's pretty much it. Yes, I did have a deep plot planned for this story from the very beginning when I wrote this, it was SUPPOSE to a be a two-shot but I kept dragging it and turned out to be too long. So yes this will turn into a short series. As for where the plot is going, I do have something planned and it involves your question on "why are all these characters in the same universe?" although I'm not sure what you're going to think about it.** **I know you said you would be happy with ANYTHING but hopefully I have not disappoint. Especially when I finish part 2, where a lot of things will be revealed about the plot.**

 **Once again, Part 2 will be more eventful and will hopefully answer a lot of questions like "why can all the characters draw?" (Note: in the original cannon of all these characters, I don't think any of them can draw that good, it's just something I have added for the plot)**

 **So Why are all these characters in the same universe despite the fact that some of them are suppose to be dead (Yuri and Kanade) while others shouldn't even exist in the human world (Black)...well! IF you were reading closely (It's probably very obvious) there's a _hint_ in this part that contributes to the answer of that question. Keep in mind, it will be clearly answered in part 2. **

**Anyways, that's all I have to for this one, i think. So yeah...Bye!**

 **After I finish part 2 of this chapter, I'll return to Akame Ga sAve and SIR so please a bit more patient. Part 2 will _COME OUT SOON_ (how many times have I said that?) in fact, it already has:**

 **This chapter was finished on 04/04/2018**


	4. New Life (Part 2)

**A/N Man it's been a while. I'm just going to admit it, I am extremely disorganised when writing these long chapters. Why you ask?...There's going to be a part 3 of this 'New Life' arch. I know I said that part 2 was 'almost done' but oh my gosh was I wrong. It was dragging for way too long so I had to split it into two parts...again. I do apologies and there will be a part 3 but I can't guarantee when it'll come out. I might post one chapter of SIR before posting part 3 though. Anyways, I'll shut up now, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"Hmm..." Hang leaned in very, very closely to me. Her eyes staring widely at every aspect of my face. She was still a bit overly hyper considering she was just looking at my face yet she seemed a lot more calm compared to yesterday, much to Moblit's relief, "Have you scanned her already?" she asked.

Kanade nodded as she pointed at a screen that had a skeleton on it, "Besides a heavy lack of strength, the x-ray scanners says her skeleton is perfectly fine and should heal in a few days."

"That doesn't make sense though," Sinon questioned, looking at the screen, "when we first pulled Rin out of her ship, we detected a variety of issues with her body."

"Issues that should've taken Rin weeks to recover," Yuri added onto Sinon's statement.

"But she was completely fine when she was inside her ship," Yu pointed out, "maybe all those wires that were attached to her left something in her body."

"That's one possibility...or maybe Rin really did naturally heal on her own," Shinoa hypothesised, "I mean the x-ray scanners aren't picking up anything so if there is anything inside Rin's body helping her heal, identifying it will be very complicated."

I stared blankly. Their use of very long and complicated words made it hard for me to keep up with the conversation.

"Hmm..." Kirito stared deeply at the ground, searching every bit of his mind for an answer. He then looked up at Kanade, "Have you tried running a biology scan?"

Kanade looked at Yuri to confirm her answer before shaking her head at Kirito.

Hange clicked her fingers excitedly, "Of course! There could be something in Rin's organs or veins that's helping her bones recover so fast!"

Almost instantly, Kanade scanned me with a scanner again. The light of the scanner had change from blue to green. Seemed like the scanner was used for many different things. Although I still don't understand what it does.

Meanwhile, Hange typed a few keys into her digital keyboard while Black remained completely silent as usual.

Soon, the skeleton on the screen disappeared and was replaced with a much more...disturbing yet curious image. The skeleton was already creepy enough. At least it was disturbing for me, everyone else who saw it as something they normally would see everyday. Similar to the skeleton, it was an image of a person. But instead of just seeing the bones of a person, I saw a lot of skin, red lines and a lot of other stuff I couldn't describe. Hange said something about organs and veins but I'm not sure what either of those are.

Everyone stared at the image, looking at every detail of it like tigers all stalking the same prey.

"I don't see anything that's out of the ordinary," Yu said before admitting, "but then again, I hardly know anything about biology so I might be wrong."

"According to the scanner, her blood is flowing nicely, organs are operational and her heart is perfectly fine. No matter how you look at it... there's nothing unusual." Yuri said looking over Kanade's shoulder.

"Fascinating," Hange commented looking at the screen, "people thought aliens had come when Rin's ship crashed landed on our planet... but Rin really is a human just like us."

That statement was met with silent agreements.

"Wait... I see something," Kirito suddenly declared catching everyone's attention. He pointed at a particular part of the image, "there...in the heart. There's something in Rin's heart."

Leaning closer to where Kirito was pointing, I squinted to see what he was looking at. Everyone else did the same.

"Zoom in on the heart." Hange ordered walking closer to the screen.

Hange's assistant, Moblit, typed a few keys on the keyboard. The screen zoomed in to where Kirito pointed giving us a better view of what I assume was the heart.

To be honest, the heart looked nothing like what I thought hearts looked like. And apparently that's _my_ heart according to Kirito. But that can't be right...how is my heart over there? I thought my heart was inside of me. Hmm... maybe that scanner somehow pulled my heart out and placed it on a screen for everyone to see. Well, that's what I think.

Everyone walked closer to the screen to inspect the zoomed in image.

After looking for a good minute, everyone's eyes lit up like lightbulbs.

"I'm not the only one who can see that right?" Shinoa asked, looking over to everyone who was on her side.

Sinon nodded, "It's barely visible but yes. We can see it."

"Our scanners can't identify what it is..." Yuri informed, still looking over Kanade's shoulder, "and we're going to need better equipment if you wish to extract it from her for further analysis...it does seem to be directly located in the center of her heart after all."

"Well, at least we know it's there so that's a start," Yu noted, "do you think that's responsible for Rin's rapid recovery."

"Most likely," Hange replied, "I mean everything else about Rin seems completely natural."

Kirito looked away from the screen and looked at me, "Do you see it Rin?"

I leaned in as far as I could to a point where I was on the edge of my chair. I quickly spotted what all my friends were looking at: there was a small, faint glow right in the middle of my heart. It was small and unoticeable that it made me wonder how Kirito saw it before.

I slowly nodded.

"Do you know what it is?"

I shook my head. I thought my friends would've known the answer to that question but apparently not.

"I have a theory." Hange said both abruptly and swiftly, her words coming out of the blue.

"Already?!" Yu asked with a baffled expression.

"Rin," Hange called causing me to sit up straight, "can you... try walking again?"

Kirito looked at me as he seemed to already know what Hange wanted to test.

I looked back at her in complete worry and anxiety. Walk? Again? B-but...well I guess I was was going to have to start walking eventually. I mean, I can't have Kirito carry me everywhere I go. But what if I fall again? I didn't do so well last time, so what happens if-

I feel a comforting hand lay itself down on my shoulder. I looked up to see that Kirito was right in front of me giving me a encouraging smile, "It's okay, I'll be here to catch you if you fall okay. There's nothing to be afraid of."

I...I slowly nodded, my anxiety slowly backing away.

Kirito nodded back at me before taking a just a few steps away from me, "Okay...now try walking to me."

I felt pressured. Probably because everyone was watching with intense eyes, especially Hange. It was like they were already expecting great things from me. I do want to help as much as possible, but can I? What if I fail?

I stared down at the distance between me and Kirito as my feet touched the ground. He had only taken a few steps back yet now it seemed like he was way out of my reach. From my point of view, the chair I sat on was like a boat and the ground was the ocean. That I was just going to drown in my own failures if I take one step forward.

I...I can't do this. I just can't. But why? Am I afraid? What am I afraid of? I never had any of these problems back in my world. But I'm not in that world anymore. What do I do? How am I-

"Her heart rate is increasing dramatically," Kanade informed in a monotone, "at this rate, she might end up having a panic attack."

"Rin!"

I looked up and stared straight ahead.

"sshh...It's okay, it's okay...just look at me," Kirito's gentle and kind voice soothed my panic as his voice began sounding very... very familiar, " _just look at me."_

My eyes widened as the memory flashed before my eyes.

(FLASHBACK)

I reached for him with my tiny arms.

He had let go of me and taken a few steps back, with his arms out.

I was confused. I didn't know what to do. I felt like crying. I wanted to be back in his arms again but no matter how much I reached for him, he was too far away.

"sshh...It's okay, it's okay..." His gentle and kind voice soothed my crying as I found myself staring in hope, "just look at me."

My small watery eyes remained glued on him as I used my hands to boast myself. Then, in one wobbly swift movement, I pushed off my tiny chair-

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

and stood up.

My legs twitched.

My eyes remained stuck to Kirito's, I didn't dare to look down.

It was like that time when I first woke up and found that I couldn't move my body. If I was able to do it then, I can do it now.

For me, it was like time had slowed down in that moment. Seconds run past like years as I stood there. I was standing. I was actually standing.

I then remembered the one thing I forgot to do. The one thing I always did every day.

That's right, I thought to myself.

I took in a deep breath...exactly like how I did every other day...before beginning the morning.

"Look!"

Everyone besides me and Kirito, looked back at the screen that contained the image of my heart. On the screen, the faint light that was in the middle of my heart began glowing brighter than ever while sending these flowing rivers of yellow light down to my legs.

"Incredible!" Hange exclaimed as she got more and more hyper, "It seems to be sending some sort of electrical wave to Rin's legs, giving it energy."

Ignoring everything around me, my main focus was Kirito.

Kirito stood there, waiting patiently with his arms ready to catch me.

I then lifted my leg.. and took a step forward.

My eyes lit up like fireflies. I'm walking. I'm actually-

My legs wobbled, almost throwing off my balance which made Kirito flinch a little but he didn't move from his spot. I stood still, waiting for the wobbling to stop...before attempting another step forward.

I only looked at him.

The distance between me and him gently descreased after each small step.

It was just like back then.

I remembered only looking at _him_.

Because I knew he was watching over me no matter where I went.

That's right, no matter where I go, he's always watching over me.

The look in his eyes never failed to push me forward as they told me that he would still be with me, guiding every step of the way.

And right now, deep down in my heart, I know he's right here, next to me...

His always with me...

Right?

(FLASHBACK)

" **You left him,** remember?"

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

On the screen, the bright glow in the middle of my heart faded drastically and at the same time, my legs fell limp and I find my head slowly falling straight towards the ground.

But before I could find out what the consequences were going to feel like, Kirito's arms fly in front of my vision and caught me.

"Rin, Rin, are you alright?" Kirito asked as he lifted my head away from he ground, "Are you hurt?"

I snapped out of my daydreaming and looked back at Kirito in utter confusion. What just happened? Why did my legs do that? Wasn't I just walking a moment ago?

"Yeah I think that's enough of that for now," Kirito helped me back into my chair, "you can relax now. Don't strain yourself." He handed my tablet back to me before looking over to the others, "Learn anything?"

"Nope!" Hange exclaimed, still just as hyper for some reason, "Whatever's inside Rin's heart, our technology has classified it as an _unidentified_ _object._ Just like Yuri mentioned, _w_ e may have to wait until we get better equipment in order to perform a more... advance observation. For now, all we know is how the thing reacts. At first I thought it only reacted whenever Rin tried to move a damaged part of her body but after seeing her fall, it may be more complex than that."

"So what was the point of all that exactly?" Shinoa asked in a half-serious.

"It's always important to state the facts before doing anything practical." Hange countered, pushing up her glasses. She looked like a volcano that was about to erupt at any moment.

"Great! We know the source of Rin's healer but still have no idea on how it works," Yuri spoke, placing her hands on her hips. I couldn't tell whether she was happy or disappointed, "Now what?" she asked.

Yuri's question only seem to add more coal to Hange's burning eagerness. The scientis clapped her hands together, creating a loud echo in the room, "Now!" Hange rubbed her hands together as if she was washing her hands, "We move onto the juicy stuff."

Yu raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"Rin!" Hange called, once again causing me to sit up straight. I looked straight into Hange's eyes of passion as she asked, "Black has informed me that you discovered a... 'history' section on your tablet."

Reliving the moments of yesterday in my head, I gave a quick glance at Black before slowly nodding at Hange.

Hange practically sprinted towards me and leaned in very closely to my face. It reached a point where Moblit had to pull her back.

The scientist's eyes now looked hungry. Very hungry...Has Hange not eaten yet?

"D-do you mind if we take a look?" Hange's excitement caused her to stutter.

Finding no reason to say no, I nodded slowly, still a bit shaken by Hange's sudden movements.

I tapped my tablet with my finger causing it to switch on. As my tablet booted back into power, I felt eight pairs of eyes looking over my shoulder. Everyone was watching except for Black who was still leaning against the wall, observing me from a distance.

Feeling a bit pressured yet happy from people watching over my shoulder, I pressed the History icon and a video instantly started playing. It was continuing from the video I watched last night.

Currently, the video playing showed a zoomed out view of _me_ sitting on my bed, drawing in my digital world. Just as I remembered, whatever I drew on my tablet became real outside the box that contained my bedroom. Those blue box like pixels would show up and combined together to create anything I wanted.

"Shinoa," Yuri spoke gently this time so I didn't jump in shock, her eyes remained on the screen of my tablet as she started, "That's-"

"Yeah, there's no doubt about it now," Shinoa interrupted with a more interested and serious expression, "it's similar to our technology."

"But much more advanced by the looks of it," Yu added, "I mean look at that speed. Her creations are being built in a matter of seconds."

"It's...a simulation," Sinon observed, "well that explains what Rin has been doing all that time in space but if it's a simulation then obviously it would only take seconds. It's easy to generate anything in a virtual reality."

"But you don't know that!" Hange raised her finger with wide eyes, "We have yet to test Rin's tablet in real life."

"Hasn't Rin already tried?" Kanade asked.

"There was no field installed at the time," Shinoa pointed out bringing realisation to everyone of the events of yesterday, "but is Rin's tablet even compatible with our tech."

"Only one way to find out," Kirito declared before giving out the order, "set up the field."

Kanade, Yuri, Sinon Shinoa looked at each other for confirmation first before each one of them pulled out a small white disk. The circular disk was the twice the size of their hands yet looked very light. It was quite thick and held a plain design.

That is, until the girls pushed a small button on the disk which turned them into levitating objects with glowing blue lights. It made a soft gentle buzzing noise as it levitated right above their hands.

Without giving me a chance to further take in all the aspects of the disk, the four girls threw them into the air causing them to fly apart from each other.

Despite all the previous things I've seen before, seeing small flying objects baffled me greatly.

The four disk settled in four different places in the room. Each disk flew and inhabited one of the top corners of the room therefore creating a square perimeter along the edges of the garage.

Not long afterwards, the entire room turned into a digital blue colour as if the entire room was being scanned. It was similar to when Kanade scanned me but on a much larger scale. Colour soon returned to normal but something felt very different now.

I then heard a robotic female voice say, "System Online: there are...9 Users Connected."

I looked around the room in confusion as I tried to find where that voice was coming from. From where I sat, the voice came from all directions so it was hard to tell where it came from. But how can a voice do-

"It's called a _Fictional Reality Field_ ," Kirito clarified, answering the unsaid question I had in my mind. I looked back at him in complete interest as he continued, "scientists describe it as a field that can temporary bring a chunk of cyberspace into the real world. When set up, any fictional or non-fictional entity can be artificially recreated into reality, hence the name. As long as you have a precise and detailed drawing of it, pretty much _anything_ can be created in this field." Kirito added a bit of emphasis on the word 'anything' for some reason.

My response was a blank stare. I didn't understand any of the things Kirito just said which only added more questions into my mind: what's cyberspace? What does fictional mean? Is 'artificially' even a word? And I still don't know what a scientist is. I already know Hange's a scientist but what do they do exactly?

Noticing my very confused expression, Shinoa grinned proudly, "It's kinda like the Attire Materialiser but isn't limited to just clothes. Here, let me show you."

Shinoa lifted her arm and revealed a small, thin purple bracelet that hid beneath her sleeve. The bracelet was transparent making it look very unnoticeable and it rested on Shinoa's wrist. It was the type of thing you wouldn't notice unless you were specifically looking for it. In fact, I was a bit surprised to see everyone in the room also had the same bracelet but different colours.

Shinoa tapped the bracelet causing a digital screen, almost the same size as the screen of my tablet, to emerge from her bracelet. The same stylus that Shinoa used before to draw those clothes, appeared in her hand.

Before starting, Shinoa over looked at me and smiled brightly, "By the way, I love your dress Rin. It's so cute! Don't you agree girls?"

Kanade gave a small nod with a thumbs up, "It's good."

To my surprise, Sinon and Yuri also agreed.

"I have to say, it's as if the dress was made for you," Yuri admitted much to Sinon's agreement, "where did you get it?"

I pointed at my tablet which was still playing the video of me living in that other world.

"Oh I see. So it really is an original design," Sinon commented, "that explains a lot. Did Black help you make it?"

I nodded.

"Aww, that's so kind of you Black." Shinoa grinned in a teasing manner. Although Black praticcally ignored her.

"ANYWAYS!" Shinoa continued, "sorry, we got a bit sidetracked. Moving on, just as a demonstration for Rin, I'll just draw something simple."

Lifting her stylus, Shinoa drew what I predicted was going to be a simple blue cube. Despite how simple it was, you could tell that Shinoa was being very careful with every movement as she didn't rush the drawing. She drew the lines as straight as possible and she paid extra attention to the colours and shadings.

Not long after, a single small blue 3D pixel, the same size of my finger tip, appeared right in front of Shinoa...then another, and another and then another. Seconds after second, tens of tiny pixels appeared and slowly combining together to create Shinoa's cube. The pixels combined together like glue and each movement was both gradual and precise. It was one of those moments where the only thing you could say to describe it was 'whoa'.

Waiting there patiently for the cube to be finished, I looked back at Shinoa's face of concentration. It utterly astounded me, seeing so much work being put into something so simple. But why? She's just drawing a cube right?

Sinon seemed to have read my face like a book as she answered, "Every detail, even the tiniest features, must be drawn with attentive precision if you want it to come out as perfect. The slightest mistakes can ruin the entire image of the drawing."

"It'll still works though," Yu quickly added, "it just...comes out funny."

I titled my head. The word 'why' was clearly painted all over my face.

This time Hange answered, both speed and enthusiasm was placed in her voice, "The field can only use drawings that are completed to exactly 100 percent which can prove to be very difficult or just time-consuming when you're drawing a 3 dimensional piece of art. So for example, if you submit a drawing that is only 80 or even 99 percent done, the computer technically can't use it. So what it does is it improvises. It'll fill in all the gaps that you left with what _it thinks_ is suitable for the drawing and creates that. However, since the computer doesn't know the full context of your drawing, it'll come out very inaccurate most of the time, as in it'll add in very strange fillings that always stand out no matter how small they are. Because of this, people these days usually abandon drawing altogether and rely on auto generated images or just buy drawings from other people. Of course, if you wish to make something original, you have to resort to drawing as it's one of the best ways to express one's imagination. Not to mention, there's also the fact that..."

Hange proceeded to give me an entire lecture on basically everything related to the Fictional Reality Field. To be honest, I didn't understand a single word she was saying but I nodded nonetheless because Hange herself seemed to be very engaged into her own explanation. I noticed that the others, who were also listening, were starting to get very tired for some reason.

Hange however didn't seem to notice and just continued, "While the original inventor of this field remains a secret, lots of updates have been added to this field by many people around the world. Nowadays, it's the most used piece of tech on the planet-

"Done!" Everyone's attention woke up and all eyes looked over to Shinoa who was done with her cube, "That was quite fast, the speed sure has improved a lot since the last update."

While everyone hummed in agreement, I stare in absorption. The cube levitated in mid-air and was no bigger than the palm of my hand. It was blue and had black outlines, just how Shinoa had drew it. It was plain and simple yet enough to intrigue me. I could tell it was real yet the texture of the cube made it look like it was pulled out of a cartoon.

"Go ahead," Shinoa assured as she grabbed the cube and offered it to me, "touch it."

With a bit of hesitance yet curiosity to push me, I reached for the cube and grabbed it.

It was light. The touch of it was smooth and sent cold, gentle shivers through my fingers. Despite just being freshly created a minute ago, it felt so real that you wouldn't believe it was a made up object. Everything about it: the feeling, the appearance, even the colour. It all felt...oddly familiar. Although for once I actually knew why.

It's exactly like back my world. The world where everything I drew came to life.

Shinoa raised her stylus and erased the drawing on her screen causing the cube in my hand to dispersed into thousands of pixels.

I stared intently at my palm which used to be holding a cube.

"She doesn't seem shock by it," Yuri whispered to Sinon, "so far everything she has seen on this ship has blown her mind, even the taste of plane food seemed to be foreign to her... yet _this_ doesn't even faze her."

"Which probably means she's already familiar with it." Sinon hypothesised.

Kirito walked up to the chair I sat in and gestured his hand towards my tablet, "Now you try."

I looked up at him in worry. My drawing is no where near Shinoa's or Black's or probably anyone on this building, if this place really is a building.

I didn't understand when my friends explained it to me but what I did understand was that you needed to be good at drawing in order for this to work. I also can't draw 3D.

"It's fine," Kirito smiled with assurance, "it doesn't have to be perfect. No one will judge. We only need a test run so we can confirm something. Just draw how you usually would."

I slowly nodded as my eyes fall back to my tablet. The video of me was still playing so I paused it and exited 'History'.

As the screen returned to the home page, my eyes instinctively knew where to look.

The drawing icon...only something was different.

I blinked in confusion.

The icon was glowing: the glow was blue and had this weird, small symbol on the corner.

It astounded me. To think that this tablet still had a couple of tricks up its sleeve despite the amount of time I've spent with it.

With curiosity driving my adrenaline, I raised my finger and tapped the drawing icon.

The female robotic voice from before suddenly spoke again causing me to jump and hug my tablet tightly.

"Caution: Unknown user has been logged in"

All of my friends looked at each other with surprised expression. Even Black's eyes had widened but only by a bit. Everyone was surprised except for Hange who was squealing excitedly. Hange ran to Kirito, grabbed his arm and pressed a few holographic buttons on his transparent wristband. Not long afterwards, the robotic voice spoke again.

"Permission has been granted: there are...10 Users Connected"

"No way..." Yu commented, "It's compatible...what are the odds of that?"

"Very unlikely." Kanade answered.

My tablet vibrated softly, dragging my attention back to it's screen.

The drawing app set itself up, presenting me with an empty place to draw in.

Without thinking twice, I gently lifted my hand and the stylus I grew up with appeared in my hand.

 _Just draw how you usually would._ Following Kirito's words, I brought my stylus down onto the screen...only to stop in front of a dead end.

I didn't know what to draw.

It's only been a day yet it feels like it's been ages since I last touched this stylus. This is just a test right? So I shouldn't draw anything that's too complicated. But what if it's too simple. Should I just draw a square like Shinoa? Or maybe I should try drawing clothes like how Black did? Or maybe-

"Anything is fine."

I turned to look at Kirito with a worried expression.

"Draw anything you want," Kirito assured, "use your own imagination."

Anything. Draw anything, he said.

I nodded hesitantly before turning back to my tablet to start drawing but not without taking a few breaths to calm my nerve. Everyone was looking at me, making me feel as if there were expecting something from me.

Draw. Anything is fine. Just draw.

Constantly repeating those words in my head, I let my stylus walk gently on my tablet, slowly creating the image I had pictured.

My ears heard Hange gasped for some reason but my mind was already concentrated on drawing.

It's just a test right?

It's nothing more than a test to see if this still works.

So nothing too fancy and only a bit simple.

I just have to draw something that isn't too big but definitely not tiny

Something easy yet nice to look at would do.

Something cool like Shinoa's cube. _Simple_ but interesting to look at.

I slowly finish the final touches of my _simple_ drawing.

Something like a... _Simple_. Nice. Normal. **Tree.**

A small mysterious beep was heard from everyone's transparent wristbands. They were all about to check what it was when suddenly-

Thousands and Thousands of pixels abruptly appeared within half a second and began combining together in fast yet smooth movements.

Within the first few seconds, the trunk of the tree, which was half the height of the garage, was already complete.

Oddly enough, I wasn't shocked but instead intrigued. It happened so fast but I captured every moment of the process like my eyes had somehow slowed down time, just to look at every detail. Well then again...I have seen this already millions of times before.

I could practically picture the shocked expressions that my friends had while watching.

One second crawled by and my intriguing transformed into fear.

The thousands of the pixels continued to build onto the unfinished tree. Even though the tree wasn't finished, it was already beginning to reach the ceiling of the garage. I could see branches with leaves forming which were starting to push against the wall. Seeing the tree now was like seeing a person being held in a tiny bird cage.

And the tree wasn't even finished yet.

Half a second past and the tree expanded more causing the room to vibrate.

Hange, instead of panicking, ran straight towards the in-process tree screaming in pure delight. Luckily Moblit was there to pull her back while yelling how dangerous it was.

Another half second ran by and one of the rectangular shaped lights on the ceiling was shattered by a branch. The roots of the tree attempted to forcefully dig themselves through the metal ground. While the garage managed to stay intact, the Fictional Reality Field began glitching which triggered the robotic voice lady to speak again.

"Warning: Capacity Overload Detected"

Kirito, like most of the others, remained completely calm as he ordered the robotic voice, "Force quit the field!"

"Commencing: Emergency Shut Down"

The four discs that were used to create the field moved from the corners of the room. The room was quickly scanned again before finally, the field turned off and the tree to cease it's creation process leaving a unfinished, frozen, tree in the middle of the garage.

All that followed was silence and the soft panting of my breath.

Slowly one by one, everyone relaxed.

Yuri then looked at Kirito with a questioned look, "What's the point of an emergency shut down if it's not automatic?"

* * *

Back in the hallways:

Kotori had arrived on the scene...and she was anything but happy.

With that so called 'lollipop' in her mouth and her arms crossed, she looked at all of us with an annoyed and frustrated expression as she said slowly, "Can someone please explain to me: why is there... **a tree** on my ship?"

"Well..." Sinon began with a straight face, "Kirito did say Rin could draw _anything."_

"Yeah he did didn't he." Yu agreed casually.

I looked down on the floor, both embarrassed and guilty. I didn't know it was going to be _that_ big...but then again, what was I expecting? Trees are normally really big aren't they. But I certainly didn't mean to bruise the room and shatter the lights. That wasn't my aim. I wanted to help, not cause more problems... Yet I still-

"Wow Kotori," Shinoa spoke sarcastically, "you've just met Rin and already, you've managed to make her cry."

Kotori flinched when she looked at my sad expression, "How is that my fault?"

Kirito patted me gently, "Don't worry about it, no one could've ever predicted that was going to happen."

That caught Kotori's interest as she asked, "What exactly happened?"

"We were testing the field," Kanade replied with her usual calm expression, "Rin drew a tree and a tree appeared." she said straightforwardly.

"So? Just turn off the field then." Kotori said wondering what the real problem was.

"We have..." Kirito replied, "it's still there."

"Impossible," Kotori rejected almost instantly, "if the field is turned off, all objects that were created in that field should disappear with it."

"Apparently that's not the case for Rin's drawings." Sinon countered as she pointed at the tree that was in the garage.

The girl looked at the tree for about a second before ordering, "Let me see her drawing."

Almost instinctively, I flip my tablet and allowed her to see my sketch of a tree.

She looked at my drawing for only a few seconds before raising her eyebrow in suspicion, "This looks it was drawn by a kingder-"

"SSHH!" Yu and Shinoa shushed interrupting Kotori's sentence.

Yu whispered while pointing at me, "She's right here! Don't hurt her feelings, you've already made her cry once."

Kotori's eye twitched in annoyance which almost scared me.

Before I could ponder on what a 'kinder' was, I felt someone...sniffing my hair.

"Hange?..." Sinon called, looking at said person like she had gone insane, "What are you doing?"

"I'm studying!" After playing with my hair for a moment, Hange moved to looking directly into my eyes. I was...a bit creeped out. Especially since she reached a point where she was stretching my eye open.

"She calls that studying?" Yuri asked her assistant.

Moblit that shrugged hopelessly, "You can never tell with that woman, honestly I'm just glad she's not dissecting another hostile animal."

"Oh okay..." Yuri nodded before fully realising what he had just said, "wait what-"

"Hange! You're making her feel uncomfortable." Kirito called, ordering Hange to back away from me much to my relief. Her face of deep hunger was beginning to scare me.

"Yeah, besides, I don't think Rin herself knows about it so there's no point." Sinon added.

I looked at each one of my friends with a very confused expression. What were they talking about?

Reading my confusion like a book, Kirito answered calmly, "You were probably too focused to notice but... your hair and eyes turned red while you were drawing."

I blinked twice purely out of bewilderment. My eyes and hair turned...red? wait, weren't they already red? ...oh yeah, that's right! My hair and eyes are brown in this world, not red. I completely forgot. But how did that happen? and why?

"Were getting sidetracked," Kotori pointed out, "We kinda have a tree problem right now, remember?"

"OH!" Hange perked up as if the word 'tree' had sparked something in her mind, "Speaking of which, I took a closer look at Rin's creation."

"And what did you find?" Yu asked.

Hange smiled as she rubbed her hands together, "Roots!"

Everyone stared blankly at Hange causing the scientist to explain further, "Think about it! When you look at a tree, you can't see it's roots. The Fictional Reality Field only creates what you draw and nothing else. When you draw a tree, there's no need to draw the roots of the tree because you can't see them so there would be no point since it's a drawing. So not only was a highly detailed tree created from an extremely flawed drawing, no offence Rin,"

I stared blankly at Hange. What does 'flawed' mean?

"but it also created and probably even recognised exactly what Rin tried to draw. Not to mention it did it within mere seconds while our creations takes minutes." Hange concluded. I didn't understand a single word but everyone was beginning to look amazed, "If I didn't know any better, that tree is exactly what Rin imagined in her mind when she was drawing. Am I right Rin?"

I hesitantly nodded. Like I mentioned, I didn't understand half the things she was saying, but I got the last question.

Sinon still wasn't satisfied with that answer as she said, "That still doesn't explain how did her creation stay intact even after the field was shut down."

"Now that itself, is a whole nother mystery, while our creations are temporary, Rin's creations seemed to be permanent," Hange replied as she looked at the entire group, "...I scanned the tree and found an aspect that is very similar to Rin's ship: any signs of technology is completely hidden. In other words, just like Rin's ship, anyone could walk past that tree and they would never know it's artificial."

"I'm sorry, I've completely lost you." Yu admitted with a overwhelmed and confused expression.

At this point, everyone including me, was just as confused as Yu.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Shinoa asked, "Like how is any of this connected to Rin's spacecraft?"

"It's just a hypothesis but... _if_ we didn't know any better..." Hange paused as she tried to find the correct words, "Rin's ship wasn't built...it was _drawn."_

Everyone went silent.

I looked at each one of my friends. Each one had their own different expression so it was to tell what they were thinking. All I knew was that none of them were agreeing or disagreeing with what Hange just said. Except for Black who was still looking at me.

The void of silence was short lived as someone interrupted.

"That...doesn't solve anything," Kotori said bluntly, "Look, you can study Rin's ship all you want for all I care. I'm just the captain. But right now, I want to know how to get that tree off my ship."

Seeing no reason to object, everyone agreed.

"We could try destroying it with that weapon Hange used before." Yu suggested.

"Oooh! That's a good idea," Hange agreed, "it could be an effective way to test the durability of Rin's creation."

"It's a tree." Yuri pointed out.

"Yeah and I prefer not to blow up half my ship, thank you very much." Kotori added sarcastically.

Multiple ideas being thrown around the circle of my friends. Like usual, I couldn't understand all the complicated words they were using but what I did understand was that none of their ideas were going to work.

Everyone stopped talking when Kanade suddenly suggested, "Maybe, Rin can do it."

All eyes in the room looked at me, causing me to feel a bit nervous.

Kirito looked and bent down in front of the chair I sat in until he was head level with me, "Can you?"

I stared back at Kirito, not blinking as I didn't not what to do.

"Please," I heard Kotori say as she also bent down next to Kirito, she looked at me with a more gentle and kind approach, "it would really help if you could."

"Aww." Shinoa teased which earned an annoyed glare from Kotori.

Not wanting to let them down, I nodded slowly... even though I had no idea what to do.

Out of pure instincts, I looked back down at my tablet which still had the picture of the tree I drew. Looking at the screen, an idea gently hit me in the face.

I lifted my hand, selected a different action for my stylus...and erased the picture I drew.

* * *

Back in the garage, the tree began deconstructing itself.

Within seconds, thousands of tiny pixels detached themselves from the tree and dispersed until they were nothing.

Everyone, including Kirito who was still carrying Rin, walked into the garage and watched in amazement.

A couple of seconds walked by and just like that, the tree disappeared from sight.

However, with the tree gone, the damage it left was now more visible: smashed ceiling lights and big dents on the ground.

Kotori took one look at her damaged garage before declaring, "Alright! You are all hereby banned from the garage for today!"

"EHHH?!

* * *

Everyone besides Kotori, gathered back in the cafeteria.

Rin was given some dinner to eat while the rest discussed. Without the garage, they couldn't pursue their theories further much to Hange's dismay. Although Hange did still have that data she collected when Rin brought her ship back to life.

"So...what's going to happen to Rin after we arrive?" Sinon asked, triggering the flame of a very important topic that no one had thought of, "Cause I doubt they're just going to let her in without some sort of...of-"

"Check up," Yuri finished the sentence before adding, "besides what Hange has already 'discovered', there are still too many unanswered mysteries about Rin and to some people out there...unanswered mysteries tend to raise a lot of suspicions."

"Seriously?!" Yu couldn't see why this was even worth arguing, "Look at her! Sure she's from space, but she's no alien."

Black silently looked at Rin to test Yu's statement.

"Well, you never know," Shinoa replied, leaning back on her chair, "I mean...our hair and eyes can't magically change colour like that. And we've already confirmed that Rin's body isn't equipped with any signs of tech that could have done that, so the only other explanation is that her hair and eyes must've changed _naturally._ Which as you know, isn't normal for humans."

"There has to be a secret behind that," Hange divulged with her hand beneath her chin, "If only we had more time."

Silence fell upon the group once more, the only sound that people could hear was Rin chewing her food.

That is, it was silent till Sinon noticed something, "Kirito?"

Hearing his name, Kirito snapped out of his daydream, looking away from Rin, "Yes?"

Shinoa giggled in a teasing manner when she noticed who Kirito was staring at, "Oh my, is our Kirito already having weird fantasies already. What would your wife say?"

Completely ignoring Shinoa's inappropriate joke, Sinon continued, "You okay?"

"I'm alright, I was just wondering... why was Rin sent here?" Kirito asked bringing yet another topic the group had failed to discussed.

"True, if the creator of Rin's ship really is as intelligent as Hange says he or she is, why send Rin here alone in such a vulnerable state?" Yuri agreed, crossing her arms.

"There could be many reasons," Yuri added casually with her index finger, "it could've been a desperate attempt of survival for all we know."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kanade noticed Rin had finished her food and was looking at something on her tablet.

"Rin was foreign to almost everything we've shown her besides the Fictional Reality Field," Yu pointed out, bringing a yet another mystery to the table, "Why?"

Sinon sighed, "No use in thinking about that. Only Rin knows the answer to that question and her voice has yet to recover."

"You're right about that, in fact... I think Rin knows the answer to a lot of our questions," Hange added, she looked at her teammates with assurance, "you all noticed right? Rin looked as if she had a lot of things to say throughout both yesterday and today."

Black continued to observe Rin as the girl was rapidly scrolling down to the bottom page of her tablet. When Rin reached the bottom, her eyes widened in shock. From where Black stood, she couldn't see what Rin was looking at as Rin sat in between Kirito and Shinoa who were currently too engaged in their discussion. Kanade, who wasn't much of a talker to begin with, also noticed Rin's shock expression.

"But why can't she speak?" Yu asked, "we've already confirmed that she isn't mute."

Yuri leaned back and looked at the ceiling, "Well, she's been asleep for a whole week. So I thought it was just because her throat was extremely weak like her entire body but..."

"There's definitely more to it," Kirito finished the sentence before adding, "I mean...we've all heard her speak right?"

"Yeah but," Shinoa was a bit hesitant with Kirito's statement, "the only word that Rin has been able to say so far is-"

"Dad?"

Everyone froze.

It took everyone a second to realised whose voice had said that word. They were used to her being so quiet that hearing her say something made them jump.

They all looked at Rin.

Rin was staring at her tablet as if she was having a major flashback. Just by looking at her, everyone could tell that Rin's memories were going crazy in her head.

Not wanting to give her a heart attack, everyone gently moved and shifted to a position where they were all looking over Rin's shoulder.

On Rin's tablet, a video was playing.

It was the last thing anyone expected to see.

A video of Rin's past.

Rin was currently a teenager, but the video showed Rin when she must've only been seven years old. The video played a scene where the small Rin was simply having fun in a sand pit making Shinoa squeal in excitement, "AWW Rin looked so much cute!"

"Shinoa."

"Ah I feel like giving her a hug now!"

"Shinoa."

"Look how small and cuddly she looks!"

"Shinoa!" Yu whsipered a bit louder this time.

"What?"

Yu quietly motioned his head towards Rin's facial expression. Shinoa looked and saw complete sadness in Rin's face.

Rin was paying more attention to the second person in the video who was there playing with Rin's past self.

It was a young tall man with black hair and Rin's past self seemed to adore him. Playing in the sand, both the man and small Rin looked so happy together.

Looking at the man in the video, everyone swiftly remembered the word that Rin had uttered a moment ago.

As soon as tears began flowing down Rin's face, it was easy to put two and two together.

Kirito placed a gentle hand on Rin's shoulder.

The poor girl looked up at Kirito with eyes that were both wet and red.

"I'm sorry."

Tears flowed like rivers as Rin silently cried in Kirito's arms.

Everyone else sat there is silence out of respect. The only sound that could be heard in the room was playful giggles and laughter which came from the video of Rin and her father.

* * *

Still connected to that large white, cube-shaped helmet.

The girl slept peacefully on the hospital bed.

Dreaming about a mysterious girl that she had met many times before.

* * *

I opened my eyes and saw nothing.

I was floating above and below nothing.

Nothing existed and nothing was there.

It was just...white.

 _Alone._

What was I thinking about?

Did I always feel this lonely?

Didn't I have someone?

 _Flames._

 _House._

 _Drowning._

What was I doing again? I can't remember?

 _Red._

 _Darkness._

 _Sand._

That's right, I gotta draw.

 _Swing._

 _Smiles._

 _Bears._

Why did I do I like to draw so much?

 _Falling._

 _Black._

 _Goodbye._

How do I think?

Did I forget how to think?

Who am I asking these questions to-

 **You left him, remember? ...You even replaced him.**

The large thing collided and the planet was completely destroyed.

The last thing I saw was my dad looking away from me as the fire engulfed him.

* * *

My eyes flew open.

I was panting for air, my eyes were wet and heart was beating like a drum.

I had another nightmare.

Nightmare.

Why am I feeling like this?

It was like my brain was still debating whether anything was real or not.

Why are those words still haunting my mind.

I never left him.

No one could ever replace him.

So why do I still worry?

The machine beside that had green squiggly lines on it's screen, began beeping rapidly.

I would never leave him.

He was the one who left me- No! He would never do that. How could I say that?

He was the one who saved me...

So why did I leave him? Wait no, I didn't leave him.

He left me- No, he didn't do that. His always with me.

But why did I replace- wait, that doesn't make sense. I just said I would never do that.

What's wrong with me?

My head feels weird.

What's going on?

What am I thinking?

Why is this happening to me?

I was panicking again.

That's right, I'm just panicking. And every time I panicked, Kirito always told me to...to...to what?

What do I do?

There's a way to calm down, I'm sure of it!

I can't remember. Why can't I remember?! It was just yesterday!

My heart beating rapidly but my ears heard nothing.

It felt like my heart could collapse at any moment.

I desperately looked around for help but saw only darkness.

How can this be? My eyes are open but I see nothing. Are my eyes even open?

Where is everyone?

Why is it still dark?

Am I still sleeping?

What's happening?

Why is this happening?

My hands drastically searched the bed and found the edge. My eyes were useless as my body purely relied on my hands.

I need to see him.

I didn't know what I doing when I sat up, but all I knew is that I needed him.

I didn't know what or why I did, I just needed him.

My feet touched the cold ground sending shivers through my body but that didn't stop me.

I couldn't see anything but my eyes remained wide open, not blinking once.

I need to him. To hug him again, to play with him again, to see him again.

Without hesitation and just complete darkness to look at...

I pushed myself away from my bed in one swift movement.

I stood up for a split second.

But then my legs fell limp instantly and began falling.

The wind blew against my face as I fell towards the floor.

(Flashback)

"imagine what would've happen if Kirito wasn't there to catch you,"

(Flashback ends)

It was at that moment, time seemed to have slowed down.

My mind went blank.

My eyes saw nothing.

My legs did not move or even bend as they remained rigid and straight.

I was falling but I could not tell where.

Direction meant nothing as everything I knew and learned was forgotten.

It was like reality itself had ceased to exist in my mind.

Any attempts to think about something was blocked and ended in void.

My arms stayed frozen as my mind didn't know what to do with them.

It was at that moment, my eyes began seeing things.

I had a blurry vision of a planet and that I was in suddenly in space.

I didn't know why it looked familiar. I was more surprised at the fact that I knew what the word 'planet' meant.

There was another large object which was smaller than the planet but still very big. It was heading straight towards the planet.

The large object looked more like a gigantic rock rather than a planet.

Watching with a mind blank, I looked as the gigantic rock moved more closer to the planet.

The giant rock collided into the planet... destroying the home I used to-

My head hit the ground, face-first with a loud thump!...

I was no longer in space as my eyes returned to looking at pitch blackness.

A new, unbearable feeling rushed through my head.

It was far from simply unpleasant like that time when I burned my turn which only felt like a gentle sting. This felt much _more worse._

Memories flooded back in as the agonising feeling burned through my head and body.

Tears of hopeless flowed down my cheeks as I cried silently for help.

My mind was no longer blank and was replaced with pure agony.

It was a type of anguish I have never felt before. It was new...but a horrible type of new.

I cried. Not knowing who was I crying to. I cried and cried...cause that was all I could do.

 _"I told you didn't I?"_

My heart felt like it was stabbed when that voice spoke.

I slowly looked up and my eyes widened in pure fear.

It was him...the one who wore _red_ and _black_.

This time he had a dark and evil aura around him and even though I couldn't see his face...I could feel him grinning at me.

 _"Oh Rin, you really are naive. I warned you. In this world, positive feelings aren't the only things you're going to experience."_

I wanted to scream but no sound emerged from my mouth.

All I could do was lay there on the ground as the agonizing feeling rushed across my entire body. The feeling was torturous.

I wanted to move but my body refused to listen to me.

I wanted to close my eyes and think it was all just a nightmare but my eyes remained wide open.

This feeling...this tormenting feeling...I didn't know what it was but I wanted it to stop...I wanted this feeling to go away.

My teared pouring from my eyes as my heart started beating faster and faster and faster.

 _"Aww..."_ He pouted, pretending to feel sorry for me. _"Is this your first time experiencing pain? ...it hurts doesn't it? oh but Rin...this is just the cherry on top for what is going to come. I can guarantee you...for as long as you remain in this world, you will experience unbearable pain both physically...and mentally."_

He started laughing and laughing. It was the type of laughter that sent shivers down my spine. The type of laughter that would torture me every time it echoed in my ear.

He kneeled down and reached closer towards me with his arms.

I was helpless. There was nothing I could do.

His arms got closer as he continued to laugh.

Is this it? Is this really the end?

My eyes finally closed itself as I could feel his dark aura coming closer and closer.

...

"Help me... please."

...

A pair of warm familiar arms wrapped themselves around me.

Light suddenly pierced my dark vision.

I...I hesitantly opened my eyes.

The boy who wore black and red was gone.

The door was opened allowing the hallway lights to seep into the room.

I couldn't recognised who was hugging me and didn't know why this person was being so silent but the feeling of burning agony refused to leave me alone, especially my head.

Pain. Is this what pain feels like? I hate it.

I cried in the person's arms. The person held a different presence from Kirito so it was certainly wasn't him. But really, all I needed was help.

Minutes flew by and my tears slowly shifted into silent sniffles.

I wanted to stay in that person's arms more longer but he or she pulled away from me and stood up straight.

I looked up at the person with a confused expression that begged for helped.

I was shocked to see who the person was.

The light from the opened door shined on her back as she looked down at me.

Her shadow fell over me, her blue glowing circular eyes looking directly at me.

It was Black.

We were both silent. Silence might as well be one of Black's specialties. Silence followed wherever Black was but it wasn't a bad type of silence.

Black then proceeded to do the last thing I expected her to do. She gently offered her hand to me and waited as she said in a brief and calm tone.

"Stand." She ordered. Her voice blended really well with the silence and stillness around us but I heard her loud and clear.

I looked up at her in confusion and fear. It was just one word yet it must've started a massive reaction within me as I began to panick.

Stand? How? My head still hurts. Is Black planning something? Maybe she doesn't know, but she saw me cry. I don't know what to do? My head still hurts. Should I listen to Black? Can I? What if I-

I stopped when I saw the look on Black's face.

She wasn't disappointed nor was she proud.

She wasn't expecting anything nor was she looking down at me.

She was just waiting.

With my head still feeling extremely painful, I lifted my arm and gently grabbed her gloved hand.

Pulling myself up, my feet once again makes contact with the ground with my legs bent.

I feel Black gently pull me up but not too much so my weight was still depending on me.

My legs twitched. I wobbly stood up straight with one arm holding onto Black's arm.

Lifting one wobbly leg, I take one step forward.

* * *

I didn't even notice when Black let go.

I was just walking.

Walking down the hallways.

Step...by step...by step...by step.

I didn't even know where I was heading.

All I knew was that I needed him.

My legs felt numb and my head continued to hold that burning, dreadful sensation...yet I kept walking.

Step...by step...by step...by step.

Suddenly I was no longer in the hallways...everything went white again.

Black was gone. The ground was gone along with both the ceiling and the walls...everything was just white.

And yet...I kept walking, softly crying for help.

I heard the sound of gentle footsteps that weren't mine.

Dad?

The voice of those footsteps gasped behind me, "Oh hi there! After the third time, I was wondering when I was going to see you again."

I froze as my mind needed a second to realised whose voice that belonged to.

I turned around and looked.

It was her. The girl with the long purplish-black hair stood right in front of me, wearing her obsidian chest armour and looking at with me usual cheerful expression.

However her expression faded instantly when her eyes met with mine, "What's wrong? You look hurt."

Not giving any sort of answer... I ran with my own two legs.

I sprinted forward and threw my arms around her. The girl was shocked but showed no resistance. She returned the hug and rubbed my head gently, not saying anything.

My tears didn't hold back anymore and they flowed like rivers down my face.

I was confused. I didn't know what I really wanted or why this was happening to me. I'm not sure who to rely on now, everything is so jumbled and messed up.

I just can't think anymore.

My head hurts. It really hurts. It stings. It burns. It really hurts!

This pain. This agony. This was all new to me. But I don't like this type of new. I thought new was suppose to good. Maybe things should've stayed the same. Why did I choose to leave? I shouldn't just stayed where I...I could...do what exactly?

 _ **You left him, remember?**_

More tears flooded from my eyes.

 _Dad...please...I...I can't do this alone..._

I cried for who knows how long.

It was heartwarming to be in her arms yet agonising to hold that unbearable pain in my head.

I fell to my knees and just stayed there in her arms, crying for what seemed like hours.

It took a while for my tears to shift slowly into sniffles and I stayed there in the girl's embrace.

No words were spoken. They weren't needed really.

Something about the girl's embrace calmed me down. Somehow, through one slow miracle, my mind went blank. It was like all my thoughts, questions and worries were cleared for just that moment. I felt a tiny small object glow in my heart.

It was... peaceful. I wonder why?

"You've changed since I last saw you."

I opened my eyes and looked up at the girl, not understanding what she meant by that.

"I don't know, something about you seems different," the girl looked and smiled at me as if she was proud of me, " _I guess you've just met a lot of good people huh._ "

Those words shined as if everything had been made clear to me.

I looked back at the girl as a vision flashed through my sight.

A vision of all my new friends, looking over my shoulder while I was looking at my tablet.

I gently let go of Yuuki to stand on my own two feet.

 _That's right. Throughout my entire life...I was never truly alone... To think I would forget something so important like that._

The girl giggled at my reaction as she patted me on the head, "I'm proud of you. They must be amazing friends to make you smile like that, who knows, maybe I'll meet them one day."

Wiping my tears, I nodded back with new motivation. Yeah, that would be cool. I'm sure she would love to meet all my new friends that I met.

The girl gave me a bright smile in return before standing up straight, placing her hands on her hips, "I've made a decision."

I titled my head as I listened with curious ears.

"I've decided... I want to meet you for real," the girl replied only adding more confusion, she continued "not in places like this, no...I want to actually meet you in the real world. In the short time we were together, you showed me so much about the beauties of your world. I adored it. Your world was full of creativity and love that I finally felt...truly free for once. So I want to return the favour...by showing you mine."

Right on the word 'mine', the white background around us transformed and now we were both standing on the top of a hill where we had a beautiful view of the sun rise.

The girl looked up at the sun rise, "I know the chances are near impossible... but I just have this feeling, you know?"

I knew exactly what she talking about. Everyday since I met her, I always had this feeling that our next meeting was going to soon...and each time I always looked forward to it.

"...So when that does happen. If we do meet again in the future..." the girl turned around and gave me a v-shape using two of her fingers, **"we'll tell each other our names, okay?"**

I nodded back at her, returning a smile that was equally as bright as the sun.

The girl looked really glad to see that, "Then it's a _promise_ , see you later...friend."

Friend. I always loved the idea of that word.

I bowed my head, swearing that I'll keep my promise.

Yeah...see you later, friend.

With that, _my friend_ turned around and began walking away while waving. I stood there waving back at her.

At that exact moment of waving goodbye, I felt someone gently pull something out of my heart. It didn't hurt at all, the force of it just felt really...weird and unnatural.

A hooded boy walked past me.

I was utterly surprised but not scared.

It was him, the one who wore _blue_ and _white._

How long was he standing behind me?

The hooded boy, whose face I still couldn't see, looked at me with a mellow yet contented expression.

In his hand, was a tiny glowing object that looked really familiar. The boy turned around and with light steps, he followed after _my friend._

Their backs and the beautiful sunrise was the last thing I saw... before my entire body suddenly fell limp and I blacked out.

* * *

In the cafeteria, Kirito, Yu, Shinoa and Yuri were rewatching the videos of Rin's past on a floating digital screen.

They had downloaded and transferred Rin's history from her tablet for further observation.

"Her father really did love her didn't he?" Kirito commented as he watched a scene of the pair having a birthday party.

"Am I the only one who thinks that were kinda dwelling on someone's personal stuff?" Shinoa asked a bit concerned.

"I'm sure Rin will be fine with it," Yu replied casually, "besides, there has to be a reason on why all this was recorded in the first place."

"I've had the computer run an analysis..." Yuri said, raising another topic.

"Any matches?"

"Nope, there's not one street on this planet that looks like Rin's neighbourhood," Yuri revealed, "in other words, it's obvious that she's not from here."

"So not only can we confirm that Rin came from another planet, but that planet was also inhabited by other humans?" Kirito asked, half believing his own words, "Who would've known."

"The media would explode if this info gets out." Yu commented.

"Well...the media already did explode when Rin's ship landed." Shinoa pointed out.

"But where!? If there really is a planet with other humans on it, how is it no one knew about this till now?" Yuri asked the group.

"Hange had a theory." Kirito announced with an uncertain expression.

"Already?" Yu asked amazed.

"Should you really be surprised?" Shinoa asked as she remembered Yu asking the exact same thing yesterday.

Unlike Yu and Shinoa, Yuri noticed the deep uncertainty in Kirito's voice and asked, "What did she say?"

"Hange said there's a chance that...Rin is from Earth."

A wave of silence that mixed doubt and shock together washed over the four.

Yu's mind didn't believe his ears as he questioned whether he had heard Kirito correctly, "E-Earth? Wait, that place is real?"

Suddenly, the doors to the cafeteria opened and Sinon walked in with a worried expression, "Kirito!"

Noticing the urgency in Sinon's voice, he asked, "What's wrong?"

* * *

The six of them turned a corner and walked hastily. They were calm but each step was taken with anxiousness.

"What happened exactly?" Yu asked.

"Were not sure, Black said Rin woke in the middle of the night and tried to walk," Sinon explained, "because of her legs, she fell head-first onto the floor. Luckily Black was there when it happened. Her skull only seems to be mildly injured but according to Black, Rin was hallucinating last night, so there's a chance she may have received severe brain trauma."

"She must've had another nightmare," Kirito said with regret in his voice as he walked in the front of the group, he remembered the time when Rin could barely handle burning her tongue, "I should've known."

"Do we have anything on this ship that can treat her?" Yuri asked.

"Depends how bad it is," Sinon replied, "for now, the most we can do is have the computer run the regular medical procedures until we get back to HQ. But if what Black said is true, then it might more serious than we think."

As soon as the door to the medical bay was visible, Kirito dashed for it, "Rin!"

He practically smashed the password into the keypad, "Rin! Rin are you-"

The door opened and the first thing Kirito saw was Rin casually _standing_ on her own two feet next to Black.

* * *

Black and I looked at Kirito and Kirito looked back at us.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Everyone caught up to Kirito and they too were surprised to see me standing.

It wasn't long till Kirito snapped out of his shock and walked up to me, worried, "Rin? You can walk now?!"

Shinoa looked over Kirito's shoulder, "Should you really be out of bed? Didn't you get in-"

"She's fine."

Everyone, including me, stopped to looked at Black as hearing her voice was extremely rare.

Without saying anything else, without even looking at anyone, Black headed for the door.

I wanted to thank her as she left but my voice still didn't work and Black didn't even look back at me.

She just walked away.

I wasn't offended, considering her mysterious personality, I kinda expected it. I was just...curious.

Once Black had left, Yuri proceeded to scan me again with the strange device thingy. Yuri stared at with a skeptical look which I replied with a confused look.

All of my friends seemed speechless for some reason.

While Yuri scanned, Shinoa placed her hand on my head to check something. Maybe they're shocked because that big purple bruise that was on my forehead had mysteriously disappeared or maybe because I can walk now.

"Rin, are you sure you feel okay?" Kirito asked with worry still visible in his face.

I gave him the most reassuring nod I could give. I was genuinely being honest. Everything felt normal despite last night. Even my legs feel great! Being able to walk now after two days of being carried by someone made me feel so free.

Seeing my condition, Yu was now just really confused, "Wait, are you sure Rin got hurt that bad-"

"Black wouldn't lie like that," Sinon interrupted, "she said it _was_ server which only leaves one explanation left."

"Computer says she's completely fine," Yuri finished as finished her scan, "which means she probably healed...again."

While everyone was bewildered, I heard Kirito sigh in relief as if a heavy burden had just been lifted off him.

"Well, we did discover Rin's so called 'healer' yesterday, did we not?" Shinoa asked bringing up a very good point.

Yuri nodded in agreement, "True, I'll run another biology scan. Maybe it's more visible now since she just recently got injured."

Using the device that was already in her hand, Yuri changed the settings of the scanner before scanning me again. A holographic screen appeared on the wall, showing the image of what the scanner was picking up.

Like last time, they zoomed in to take a closer look at the tiny glowing object that was inside my heart.

Well...it **_was_** in my heart. For some reason, it wasn't there anymore.

"I can't see it, where is it?" Yu asked clueless.

"It's gone." Sinon replied, her eyes widening a bit in surprise, "But how is that possible? We all saw it yesterday."

Shinoa shrugged as she took a random guess, "Maybe it expired."

"I doubt that," Yuri disagreed, "while we don't know what exactly it it, the computer said it's an unidentified object meaning it's most likely something artificial that someone inserted into Rin's heart."

"If that's the case, how is it gone?" Kirito asked with a small raise of suspicion.

Listening to the conversation, my mind drifted back to the events of last night when I saw that boy holding a tiny glowing object. Maybe he took-

The door to the room opened and Hange with Kanade behind her holding my teddy bear walked into the room. While Kanade looked neutral as usual. The scientist wore a slightly shaken expression and was about to say something but stopped when she saw me...still standing.

"Rin?! You can walk now?!" Hange asked, half shocked while half amazed. This was the first time, I ever saw the word 'hesitation' writen across Hange's face. She seemed different from yesterday. She didn't looked hungry or crazy...she looked more concerned. Maybe she found out more about me.

It seemed like I wasn't the only person who noticed Hange's odd uncertainty as Kirito asked, "What's wrong Hange?"

There was pause in Hange's throat, but the pause was quickly wiped out as Hange asked one simple question:

"Are you sure Rin is human?"

For a second that felt like a minute, all sound ceased. Even I was speechless at that moment.

Kirito was the first to process what Hange had asked, "Of course! She's a living person just like all of us. Why would you ask something like that?"

Hange had a reply for that but she hesitated. She stopped to think before taking in a big, deep sigh. She shook her head, "Never mind, you're right, I was just jumping to conclusions too fast..." It wasn't long till she returned to her usual mood and faced the others, "Kanade can you guide Rin to the cafeteria to get her something to eat. For the rest of you, I need to talk to all you in private."

Kanade was the first to respond as she faced me and gestured her hand telling me to follow her.

Out of instincts, I looked at Kirito to see what he thought.

Kirito, Yu, Shinoa, Sinon and Yuri looked at each other before giving nods of confirmation.

Kirito then faced me and gently smiled, "It's alright Rin, it won't be for long. Just get something to eat okay?"

With assurance from Kirito, I waved before following after Kanade. Again, it was nice to walk on my own two feet.

The last thing I heard right before leaving was Shinoa's comment.

"Man, ever since Rin got here it's just been one surprise after the other."

* * *

We both ate silently in the cafeteria.

I sat at one side and Kanade sat at the opposite side of the table.

Originally, the cafeteria was quite small but having only two people in the room made it look quite roomy.

Kanade gave me what she called eggs and bacon while Kanade herself ate this weird food that she called Mapo Tofu.

The eggs and bacon was a whole nother experience for me. It was warm and tasted really well together. It really does show that all food here taste different and has something new to offer.

We ate silently. Not that I was surprised, Kanade only talked when she needed to, almost like Black. But I have a feeling that they both had very different reasons for not talking much.

I finished my food first. Everything on my plate was wiped clean and my glass of water was empty.

With nothing else to do, I looked up and watched Kanade eat her food.

Silence continued to move forward in the room as the only sounds present was the clinking sound of Kanade's spoon hitting her plate. Even Kanade's chewing seemed extremely faint.

It took Kanade a minute to realise that I was staring at her eating.

She looked at her food and then looked back at me, "Do you want try?"

I looked at her food with interest. It mostly contained the colour red and it was still steaming making me wonder how Kanade was eating it.

Although she seemed to enjoy eating it so it must be good right?

After considering it, I slowly nodded, hoping Kanade wouldn't mind. Although it was already hard to tell whether Kanade did mind or not since she barely showed any outward emotions.

Without even stopping to think, Kanade gently pushed her plate of Mapo Tofu towards me.

Wondering what the taste of this food was like, I scooped just a little bit with my spoon and gave it a taste.

I could've sworn my entire face turned red at that moment cause a new burning sensation invaded my mouth like a flood of fire.

It wasn't pain. It was just really...hot. But not the type of hot that would burn your tongue, it was the type of hot that, that-

"My friends says is _a bit_ spicy," Kanade said as if she had just remembered that she needed to remind me.

Spicy. This sensation is called spicy? Kanade likes this sort of thing? I never expected that from someone like her. How does she stay so calm while eating this? And apparently This is only _a bit_ spicy?

My instincts told me to reached for my glass of water, only to find that I had already finished it. My next attempt was to wave my hands like fans as if I was trying to put out a fire. It didn't help.

To think my mouth is burning this much just from eating one small spoonful.

Just when I felt like I was going to melt from the spiciness, I froze.

The spiciness began to fade and what I could only describe as a beautiful aftertaste followed like a hidden flower in the middle of a fire. It was overwhelming and...delicious. To think flavours could be this deep.

Noticing my reaction, Kanade looked up at me with a faint glimmer of hope that was barely visible, "What do you think?"

I looked back at her with a pained yet satisfied expression, I nodded with a smile of assurance.

I saw Kanade look down at her food and for the first time, I saw her form a tiny smile. It was the type of smile you wouldn't see unless you leaned forward. Looking closer, it was as if she was remembering someone very important to her. It was small and barely visible, but to me, a smile was still a smile.

Kanade then reached for something and lifted a familiar object for me to see. The sight of the object surprised me since I had completely forgot about it:

My teddy bear.

"Sorry for keeping it, here you go." Kanade apologised as she handed it back to me.

I gladly smiled, accepting her apology with no question.

With the teddy bear now in my hands, I stared at it.

"You Dad must've really cared for you."

I nodded with a weak smile. I hugged my teddy bear, sparking a familiar feeling of comfort.

I missed this feeling.

"My condolences."

With nothing else to say, Kanade finished her meal and stood up, "Let's go."

With no objections, I stood up as well.

I suddenly noticed something that I somehow didn't notice before: since both of us were standing right in front of each other, it was easier to see that...

My eyes looked down at Kanade and Kanade's eyes looked up at me.

I was taller than Kanade. Wait, does that mean I'm older than her? How come she's so much more mature?

"I'll carry your tablet for you." Kanade said noticing that I was using both my arms to hug my teddy bear.

She picked my tablet up and once again, the tablet turned to stone as a response to Kanade's touch.

I was once reminded that I'm the only one who can use my tablet. I was a bit sad since I was planning to let my _friend_ borrow it once we finally meet.

 _If_ we meet each other that it...

(FLASHBACK)

 _"I know the chances are near impossible... but I just have this feeling, you know?_

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

I shook my head, deciding not to think about it much.

Kanade turned around and headed for the exit.

I quickly follow after her, holding dearly onto my teddy bear.

* * *

The doors opened and we entered a room that I was briefly acquainted with.

Once again, the sudden increase of light blinded me for a moment but I already knew where Kanade had led me to.

I somehow still remember the moment when Shinoa told me the name of this room: the Main Bridge Room. Whatever that name meant was way beyond what my mind could comprehend.

As I expected, Kotori was there, still seating on the biggest and highest chair.

As soon as Kanade and I entered the room, she looked down at me, raising her eyebrow, "So you can walk now?"

"She healed again." Kanade replied for me.

"I'm not even going to ask. " Kotori asked before looking back at me, "Feel free to look around the room, just don't touch anything."

I didn't move as I stared intently back at her. She still had that so called "lollipop" in her mouth. For some reason, that caught my full curiosity. Considering that it's in her mouth, I figured it was some kind of food...but why isn't she chewing it? What's the point of food if you're just going to leave it in your mouth?

I stared at the white stick that was sticking out Kotori's mouth in pure awe as if my eyes had stars in them.

Noticing my stare of intent, Kotori asked, "You're seriously never had one before?"

I shook my head.

She let out a sigh before pulling out another lolipop from her pocket. How many does she have?

Then, without warning, she threw it at me while saying "Here, have a try."

Not knowing what to do, I just stared. The lollipop ended up ricocheting off my head before falling to the ground. Which hurt a little.

I placed my hand on the place where the lollipop hit me and looked back at Kotori, I felt a little bit betrayed but mostly confused.

Kotori flinched when I looked at her, "You were suppose to catch it."

I looked back at the lolipop on the ground and picked it up. The lollipop was pink and had the picture of a red fruit on it. I held the white stick in my hand while staring at the small ball object.

"Go ahead, try it."

With curiosity diving my actions, I placed the lollipop in my mouth placing all my trust on Kotori's choice of food.

To my utter bewilderment, the lollipop was...tasteless. As in, it didn't taste like anything. There was no taste and the texture made it feel like it was inedible. I felt odd, having this thing in my mouth. Is this what Kotori is into?

I looked back to see Kotori facepalming. Kanade walked up to me and politely pulled the lollipop out of my mouth.

While Kanade wiped my saliva off the lollipop, she explained, "You're supposed to take the wrapper off first."

So apparently there was something wrapped around the lollipop which explained the picture of the red fruit.

After removing the wrapping, Kanade handed it back to me.

I was a bit hesitant this time but still willing.

Going for a second try, I placed the lollipop in my mouth.

My eyes went wide open, causing Kotori to chuckle at my reaction.

It was that moment, I learned what the word 'sweet' meant.

* * *

Back in the garage.

It seemed Black wasn't interested anymore as she was nowhere to be seen in the garage. Kirito on the other hand, along with Sinon, Yu, Shinoa and Yuri, were all still just as eager from yesterday.

"So what's the big deal Hange?" Yuri asked, wondering why Hange was just now beginning to question Rin's existence. Yu also noticed the obvious concern in Moblit's face.

"As you all know, we discovered through Rin's tablet that the person who sent Rin here is none other than her father," Hange began, "there's also a high chance that he is also the inventor of Rin's healer."

That last statement sparked the memory of a recent discovery.

"Yeah, about that." Yu scratched his head as everyone remembered.

Now it was Hange's and Moblit's turn to act confused, "What's wrong?"

Kirito briefly explained what had happened to Rin's healer.

"It's gone?" Moblit asked in shock, "But how? It was directly placed _inside_ Rin's heart."

"No one knows," Shinoa replied with a casual shrug, "although Black did say that Rin was hallucinating."

"Without evidence, thinking about it will take us nowhere. Hange, you were talking about Rin's Father," By now, Sinon could tell that something was off as Hange wasn't the type to beat around the bush, "What about him?"

Hange tried to find the right words, "It seems I may have...underestimated Rin's father."

"Underestimated?" Shinoa asked in bafflement, "Really? You already seemed to be praising him A LOT yesterday."

"What do you mean by that Hange?" Kirito asked, getting more anxious by the second.

Finally deciding to cut to the chase, Hange revealed what she had learned. She raised her finger and pointed at Rin's ship, "Rin wasn't in there for 8 days... she was in there for around **10 years**."

Silent waves of complete unbelief and flooded the room like an instant tsunami.

For seconds, no words dared speak as Hange's statement had left most speechless, however each one of those seconds were filled with suspense and confusion.

"10 years?" Yuri finally asked to confirm whether her ears were working right, "She was alone in space for that long? How is she able to walk-"

"No," Hange quickly correctly as she proceeded to rephrased Yu's question, "How is she alive?"

"True, our generation has advanced to a point where humans can sustain themselves in space for at least 3 and half years..." Sinon said, "but _ten_ years?"

"I have two theories," Hange began in a very serious tone, "there really is something unnatural about Rin which would classify her as a true 'alien'..."

Kirito flinched as he didn't like the sound of that. He didn't want a normal girl to be treated like she was some sort of animal.

"Or...Rin's father is truly the smartest human being to ever live," Hange declared causing the group to raise silent, mental debates within their heads. Hange continued, "A ship that can sustain a human in space for ten years and an extremely microscopic object that is capable of healing fatal wounds within days. If Rin's father really is the inventor of both these contractions. Then the advanced data I've collected from Rin's ship may be way more complex than I thought."

Once again, everyone in the room had no reply to Hange's statement.

The scientist took in a deep breath for air, "I know, it's a lot to think about and I do apologize for dumping all this on you guys since all of you already have you're own individual issues to think about. I've managed to find out this much information, but like I said, I've made a huge underestimation. Despite what I've discovered, I still know nothing about the identity of Rin's father or how his technology even operates. All this may be way beyond what we can handle. I've already submitted the report, the people back at HQ will decided what to do. Until then, it's best not to think about it."

Everyone nodded as they couldn't find any reason to disagree. Stressing about it now would be both time-consuming and a waste of time.

Yu was about to ask an important question when Shinoa interrupted.

"Wait, so...how old is Rin then?" Shinoa asked out of the blue.

Sinon stared, "Seriously? That's your question?"

"No it's a good question actually. I've also been thinking about that," Hange acknowledge as she proceeded to explain, "physically, Rin is technically 17 years old. But considering she's been isolated for 10 of those years-"

"She's mentally seven years old. Pretty much a child in a teenagers body," Yuri said, finishing Hange's sentence.

"That explains why she felt so foreign to everything on this ship including us..." Kirito said with sympathy in his voice, "because it's been so long since she's actually seen other people."

"But she's got the instincts of a 17 years old." Shinoa pointed out, referring to the time Rin was skeptical about drinking that sleeping drug.

Hange hummed in agreement, "Yes, her age is quite the interesting topic, her mind not be up to date with her body but she may have the learning capabilities of a teenager. I guess we'll just have to see how Rin adapts later on in the future."

All comments about Rin's age ceased after that.

Hange then remembered Yu wanting to speak before, "Yu. You had a question?"

"ah yeah," Yu nodded, he asked with a hesitant voice, "you said there's a chance Rin is from-"

"Earth." Hange interrupted with a voice of full certainty, "Yes, Rin is from Earth."

"So your saying Earth... really does exist?" Yu asked, "But I thought Earth was just a fictional planet that authors liked to used for their stories."

"The idea of Earth first originated as a rumor," Kirito replied as he explained, "as soon as it spread, it instantly became popular as people were fascinated at the idea of another planet that was inhabited by humans. Because of its popularity, authors began using it as a base for their stories."

"And also the name Earth had a much nicer ring to it." Shinoa added.

"All rumors always start with some sort of doubtful truth," Hange said before declaring, "in this case, this rumor was everything but false."

"So Earth really does exist?" Yuri repeated Yu's question to confirm any doubt she had.

Hange voice suddenly fell, "Well...it used to."

All eyes looked at Hange with concern except for Mobit who was now looking at the ground.

"What do you mean?" Sinon asked.

Hange responded by pressing a single key on her digital keyboard.

A still holographic 2D image, five times the size of a regular computer screen, appeared and floated above Hange's head.

The image seemed to be taken from space and shocked everyone who looked at it.

It was a picture of a planet crashing into another large celestial object. From the still image, they all saw Earth was already half destroyed.

"It seems Earth was in a collision course with another large celestial object," Hange explained, "the chances of anyone who was on that planet surviving is near impossible."

"So... Rin's father really is-"

"most likely deceased." Hange answered grimly before Kirito could finish his question, "Considering Rin's ship can only hold one person, my only guess is that he sacrificed himself so his daughter could live... Rin may be the only survivor of planet Earth."

A different sort of silence filled the room. It wasn't tense nor was it full of doubt...it was only filled with sympathy.

It was then Yuri noticed something about what Hange said, "You said ' _most likely'_ deceased. Are you implying there's a small chance he survived."

"It's just a hunch," Hange quickly clarified before explaining, "it may not even be related to him but...but I did find something...peculiar about Rin's messages."

"Go on." Yu encouraged as everyone's curiosity burned even more.

"As you know, Rin's messages counts up the days that she does not receive any messages. When we first saw Rin's tablet, it said she hadn't received a message in 8 days which was why we underestimated the amount of time she spent in that ship. However that number resets to zero every time she receives a message, in this case, Rin received a timed message from her father 8 days before she arrived here. The timed message was program to be emailed to Rin as soon as she turned 17 years old. Out of respect of Rin's privacy, I have intentionally not read that message and I do not plan on showing that message to any of you. It'll be up to Rin to decide whether she wishes to show her father's message to anyone."

"Of course." Sinon and everyone else agreed with Hange's decision to conceal the message Rin received from her father. For all they knew, it was probally her father's last words for only Rin to read.

"Now this is what bothers me," Hange continued, "I looked back at Rin's history, _before_ Rin received that email from her father. According to what the numbers say, Rin didn't receive any messages for 2593 days which can be rounded to only about six years. That leaves a four year time gap where Rin may or may not have been in contact with another person."

"Her father?" Kirito guessed, concluding Hange's theory.

There was a short pause in Hange's throat, "...Possibly. Or maybe it was-"

Before that sentence could finish itself, the speakers throughout the ship turned on and Kotori's voice was heard saying:

"This is your captain speaking. Apologies for the interruption," her apology sounded really sarcastic, "but can the crew on-board please return to their stations... _We're home."_

Shinoa just giggled as a response, "That timing though."

* * *

We were all inside this box like room, facing the wall.

My mind wondered what we were doing as all I was told is that we were standing in a giant elevator. What's an elevator?

Black stood in the back of the group, completely silent. This time she wasn't leaning against the wall like she usually does.

"Where's Rin ship?" Sinon asked.

"They're currently transporting it to a nearby research facility for further inspection," Yuri replied, "it seems no one wants to bring a foreign unknown spacecraft into the building...You don't mind right Rin?"

I nodded. It's not like I knew what to do with my ship anyway.

"Thank you for letting us borrow the Fraxinus, Kotori." Kanade thanked out of nowhere.

"Don't mention it, I just so happened to have free time." Kotori replied.

"Ah yes, free time. Quite scarce these days isn't it," Shinoa commented as she remembered a fun memory from her past, "when was the last time we had free time Yu?"

Yu looked up to think about that, "Hmm...probably around a month ago."

"It's a bit too late to be complaining about that now." Moblit pointed out before looking at Hange, "You might want to get back in your _attire_."

"Hai, hai..." Hange sighed before pressing something on her transparent bracelet. Her bracelet didn't have a colour like the others and was practically invisible.

To my utter shock, out of nowhere, thousands of tiny solid pixels appeared around Hange and combined together to create clothing which was placed over Hange's science coat. Within one minute, Hange was wearing something completely different. Describing what she was wearing now would probably make my brain explode as there was so much detail placed into each part. But all I could say is now she was wearing something very similar to what Moblit was wearing.

"Surprised Rin?" Hange asked noticing my expression, she gave me a full view of her transparent bracelet by stretching her arm, "I see you've noticed our bracelets already. You've got a good eye of observation. You see this bracelet is pretty much a replica of the Fictional Reality Field but brought down to _much_ smaller scale."

I stared, still just as confused. I thought they needed a field in order to work like what Shinoa said.

Hange then did a few body movements to test the clothing she was wearing before saying something odd to Moblit, "Whoa, it's been so long since I've worn the Survey Corps Uniform that I almost forgot what it felt like."

Moblit then replied with an even more peculiar answer, "You should get used to it Hange, otherwise you'll get too careless. What if you're seen _not_ wearing that?"

At least it sounded peculiar to me, everyone around me acted like what Moblit said was everyday stuff.

As Hange and Moblit continued their conversation, my attention slowly drifted back to Kirito who was contemplating something. I wonder what his talking about. He was staring at the wall but I don't think that's what his thinking about. Maybe he-

Interrupting my thoughts, the floor beneath us began descending causing me to trip over. With Kirito being the closest, I grabbed onto his arm for balance.

Kirito snapped out of his thoughts and quickly apologised, "Oh sorry, I should've warned you about that."

'That's okay, I was just a bit shocked, that's all...was what I wanted say but of course I couldn't.

My brain began asking questions again: what's happening? How is the floor doing that? Where are-

Suddenly, huge amounts of light seeped into the room and blinded me for a couple of seconds.

As my eyes attempted to adjust to the sudden increase of light, I heard my friends talk:

"Who gave Rin that lollipop?"

"She did."

"Who else could it have been?"

"Well at least she's enjoying it."

"Should you really be given Rin sweets though? She might get addicted."

"Since when did we start caring about her diet?"

"Relax, let Rin make her own decisions."

"Yeah guys, I mean Rin would probably need to eat another 10 years worth of food before she gains any weight," Shinoa joked, "besides, cute girls like her usually never get fat-"

"In this conversation really necessary?"

My eyes adjusted and by the time my vision had become clear...

We were outside.

* * *

I could've sworn I was about to faint from the marvellous sight.

The sight alone left my mouth and eyes wide open.

The sky was a blue and I saw the clouds we were just flying above.

We were in a wide open field and _everywhere_ I looked there were a large variety of different looking aircraft, both large and small, each with a unique futuristic feature. There were also people wearing uniforms _everywhere_ , most of them were either entering aircraft or waving fancy glowing sticks at the ships.

But what ripped the full attention from everything I consciously owned was something that I could only describe as a really huge, large, gigantic, humongous and all other long complicated words that meant 'big'...building. In other words, the building was big in both width and height as it stood proudly at the end of the field.

Is this Kirito's world? I thought there would be more buildings but this is still amazing.

My mouth and eyes must've been still wide opened when I was thinking since I received a couple of chuckles from my friends due to my reaction.

"Man, is it just me or does HQ look more like an giant airport than an actual Head Quarters?" Shinoa asked looking at the building that I was admiring.

I give Shinoa a curious glance. What's an airport?

"Well this is _the_ place where lots of people of high authority from all over the world gather to have classified discussion," Yu replied in defence, "besides, it's the only place where _people like us_ can have some real privacy once in a while."

"Heads up everyone, our ride is here." Kotori alerted as a hovering vehicle in the shape of a bus came towards us.

Kirito told me it was going to take us to the large building. But whose driving it?

Before boarding the bus, I looked back and finally realised that the flying building I was in...wasn't a building. I was surprised to see that it was a big flying ship which I assumed was called the Fraxinus according to Kanade's and Kotori's exchange of words. Even if the hallways were a bit small, I assumed it was a building since it had bedrooms, a cafeteria and even a garage. But I guess that must be normal for most ships in this world.

There wasn't much on the bus: seats, windows and iron bars on ceiling for some people to hold onto. I sat in the chairs mostly spending my time looking out the windows at all the amazing planes. Hange sat next to me, hastily explaining in great detail about every plane I looked at. Once again, I didn't understand a single word she said but she seemed to be having fun so I didn't interrupt her.

Although much to Moblit's dismay, Hange ended up telling me a story about how she 'manually' toor apart a plane's engine just to see how it worked. I don't know what an engine is but it sounded dangerous in Hange's story.

Black stood in the corner like she always does, her arms crossed and eyes closed.

Meanwhile, Shinoa was listening to something on her phone. After placing her phone away, she commented, "Oh... my!"

"What is it?" Hange asked snapping out of her long talk about the history of planes.

"Looks like the paparazzi is here," Shinoa replied, "and I've been told it's a big one as well."

"That was fast." Yu commented.

He wasn't surprised, no one was in fact. Although I was just really confused. What's a paparazzi?

"Are there News Reporters as well?" Kotori asked before realising how dumb of question it was.

"Kotori," Shinoa looked the girl straight in the eye, teasing the fact that Kotori had asked an obvious question, "the _entire_ package is there, waiting for us. Security is already there to support us but we'll probably have to push through ourselves."

"Will Rin be alright?" Moblit asked in concern.

"As long as they don't scare her, it should be fine." Sinon assured.

"Considering her reaction when she first saw us..." Yuri said with a worried expression, "she'll probably be shaking after this."

"Guys, you're scaring her." Kirito pointed causing everyone to look at me.

My confusion had transformed into anxiety. I looked at each one of my friends as the words they spoke worried me. What does paparazzi mean? What are News Reporters? Why is everyone so wary all of a sudden? Are they that scary? If so, why are they so calm? Is it because they're used to this? But what is even going to happen?

Kirito patted me on the head, "It's going to be fine. We'll be here next to you if anything happens, okay?"

With a bit of my anxiety gone, I nodded, placing my trust in all my new friends as they always knew what they were doing,

Out of corner of my line of vision, I saw Black open her eyes and she looked up.

Kanade also looked ahead before announcing to everyone, "Were here."

* * *

The building looked so much bigger up close. I felt tiny when standing right in front of it.

We were in the west side of the building and were heading towards a pair of double doors which actually had iron bars as door handles, much to my surprise. The doors itself were made from this type of metal and I couldn't see through the door which only made me more curious about the noises I was hearing from behind those doors.

"Black, stay near Rin's other side." Kirito ordered causing said girl to turn and face us. I almost jumped when she turned her head.

Black said absolutely nothing but responded nonetheless by walking to my side until our shoulders were only a centimeter apart.

"Great idea, have the scariest one protect Rin's other side, that'll work perfectly." Shinoa teased as she giggled at the sight. She then turned to look at me before whispering, "Hey Rin, listen."

I looked at Shinoa, wondering what was so important that she had to whisper it.

"Word of advice, if you feel intimidated, just hug your teddy bear and look cute."

Holding my teddy bear close to me, I looked up at Shinoa with a confused yet worried expression.

I don't know what I did but Shinoa ended up giving me a thumbs up, "Perfect! You're a natural."

Sinon just sighed.

The doors were right in front of us now. I realised we were in some sort of formation: Hange and Moblit stood at the front with Kanade and Yuri right behind them. Kirito was at my right side and Black was on my left while Kotori, Yu, Sinon and Shinoa stood at the back. They were all equally spaced from each other besides Black and Kirito who stood close to me.

Moblit and Hange placed their hands on the handles of the door. Before proceeding, they looked back at all of us.

"Are you guys ready?" Hange asked in a quiet whisper just enough for all of us to hear.

Everyone nodded including me.

I braced myself as Hange and Moblit pushed the doors opened.

* * *

The very first thing I saw were flashes of light. Loads of them and it was none stop as well.

My first instinct was too close my eyes which made me notice another thing.

Voices. My ears were invaded by voices. Each voice trying to overcome the other using louder volume. It was like a audible battle on who could be the loudest.

My hearing and vision were too overwhelmed to work. I wanted my eyes to stay closed when suddenly-

"Excuse me miss!"

My eyes jumped open out of shock and the first thing I saw were three people I had never met before, staring straight at me with small mics in their hands.

"Who are you?!"

"Are you really from space?!"

"Where do you come from?!"

"What's your name miss?!"

The questions kept coming.

The sight left me flabbergasted. My name? Space? Come from? What? Who are you?

The three people in front of me had pushed through other people and forcefully shoved their mics towards my mouth, waiting for my answer.

Before I could even comprehend what they were doing, I saw Black's arm interfere.

Black glared and the people with mics backed away, only to have more push forward.

It was then, I saw the situation I was in.

It was practically a flood, a sea made purely out of people. So. Many. People.

The space between my friends were overloaded with them. People who were either holding a small mic or cameras.

There were also men in suits and sunglasses trying to push away the crowd.

A lot of eyes were at me and cameras were aimed at me constantly flashing their lights. Well, most of them, some of them were way more interested in talking to my friends, although no one dared to go near Black.

Questions. Every voice I heard was talking in questions. I heard barrages of them coming from every direction which mixed into a very noisy mess for my ears.

Kirito, despite the situation, was extremely calm and stood close to me, trying to back the crowd away from me while only answering questions with lines like, "no comment" or "no more questions please". It was hard to fully hear everything else he said.

Everywhere I looked, there were only people and cameras looking at me. From where I stood, I couldn't even see where Hange, Moblit, Yu and Shinoa were.

I was surprised we were still walking through this flood. We were slow, but progressing.

I managed to catch a glimpse of Kanade and was shocked to her that her expression was still the same as always.

Yuri and Sinon were oddly casual with all this as if they were already used to it. Maybe they are.

Black and Kirito did everything they could to hold back the crowd and I heard the faint sound Shinoa's, Kotori's and Yu's voices from the back.

My mind was dizzy and I felt scared. No, not scared. Just really overwhelmed and...intimidated.

Intimidated. Shinoa said something about that didn't she.

My ears somehow managed to pick up Shinoa's dry laugh from behind which reminded me of her advice.

 _Just hug your teddy bear and look cute._

Following her advice, I hugged my teddy bear tighter. Just in time before a tall man, who literally stood out from the rest, aimed his large camera at me.

He was directly in front of me which, among the rest, gave him the best view to snap a photo.

* * *

At one of the many news stations, a man wearing a blue suit turns around in his chair and faces the camera.

"Breaking News. Five days ago, an unidentified object crashed landed in the middle of a desert leaving a huge crater with a diameter of 100 meters. A team of armed individuals were sent to investigate. Today, the team is finally back from the crash sight and have returned with the last thing people had expected."

A picture of Rin hugging her teddy bear with Black and Kirito by her sides, appeared on the TV.

"What people thought was the beginning of an alien invasion turns out to be someone taking refuge as the team returned with a human girl, said to be 17 years old, holding nothing but a tablet and a teddy bear. Her ship has been confined and kept away from the public eye for further inspection. However, it seems the the lack of information has generated a mixture of different reactions."

The TV then shows a montage of the general public giving their opinion on the situation.

-o-o-

"She looks completely normal to me," The old man in question admits as he studied the photo of Rin hugging her teddy bear, "I don't see why people are making such a big fuss over this."

-o-o-

"It's too suspicious, there's definitely something else about her that they're hiding," A woman comments with a confident tone, "you can never be to sure these days, you never know, she might be up to something."

-o-o-

"Her ship left a large crater in the desert! Imagine what would've happened if her ship landed in a city, many would've died and this girl would have never known."

-o-o-

"Just look at her face, she obviously just wants a home."

-o-o-

"All of it is fake. I bet this is all just an elaborated set up so they can promote a future sci-fi show or anime. I mean think about it, a human girlfrom space? Whose gullible enough to believe that?"

-o-o-

"DON'T BE FOOLED! NO HUMAN ON THIS PLANET CAN LOOK THAT PERFECT AND CUTE! SHE'S DEFINITELY AN ALIEN IN DISGUISE!"

-o-o-

The TV returns to the news man who then proceeded to wrap everything, "Should we allow this girl into our borders? Is she really who we think she is? Or is there more than meets the eye. Find out more, after the break."

* * *

"Geez, the news sure has been going crazy over this one girl." The nurse commented.

"It's the news, what did you expect?" A doctor replied.

"What do you think about all this?"

The doctor shrugged, "Not sure, it's got nothing to do with me. Anyways come on, we've got more important matters to worry about."

The nurse nodded as she looked away from the TV and went to work.

In the same room, a girl was laying on the hospital bed.

The girl looked up at the TV.

As soon as the picture of Rin came into her view, the girl's eyes widened as she instantly recognised her.

* * *

 **A/N End! Hopefully you weren't disappointed and hopefully you enjoyed.**

 **There will be a part three to this, don't worry, I might post one chapter of Strangers in Remnant first cause the people over there have been waiting for a while now. But there will be a part three which will be the last chapter for the "New Life" arch. Hopefully your satisfied with the plot, part 3 will the chapter that reveals most of the plot so look forward to that.  
**

 **Anyways, that's all I got to say for now. Thanks for reading and ah yeah...bye!**

 **This chapter was finished on 17/07/2018**


	5. New Life (Part 3)

I stared at the TV with a bewildered expression as what followed after that news story was a weird coca cola ad.

Kirito tried switching channels, but to my confusion, every channel on the TV ...had my face on it.

We were in a quieter area of the building known as the 'staff only' section. Everyone including me were hanging in this lounge room which had comfy couches, coffee tables and a thing called a vending machine. Hange and Moblit who had gone off to report something, promising that they'll be back.

The lounge room... wasn't really a room. There were no doors to it and it stood between two hallways meaning, every now and then, a random person would walk past the room.

The people who walked past either stopped to get something from the vending machine or walked straight past in a hurry. However, _every single one_ of them would always give me at least one stare without leaving. It seemed like some of them even wanted to stay longer just to stare at me but Black always scared them off. Unlike the people outside, the people in here were quieter and did everything in a calm fashion. They all wore a uniform or dressed really formally.

"Hey Yu, didn't you say something about people like us getting privacy in this place?" Shinoa asked rhetorically with a teasing grin.

"I forgot they added a public area okay," Yu replied in a tired tone, "but geez, there were _a lot_ of reporters there. I actually felt like I was drowning."

"Really? I think it went surprisingly better than I thought," Yuri admitted, "considering that we were actually able to move through that crowd."

Sinon nodded in agreement, "Yeah I thought it was going to be much worse than that."

I stared. Better than expected? Worse than _that_? What possibly could've been worse than _that?!_ It's not that I don't like people, I was just way too overwhelmed.

"I was intrigued to see that even _they_ came, although we shouldn't really be surprised huh?" Shinoa commented.

"Wait, _they_ were there as well?" Yu asked.

"Yes, but they were all way in the back of the crowd being pushed by all the other news reporters and guards," Kanade explained.

"Speaking of the News Reporters, I don't know about you guys but they asked me a lot of unrelated questions that had nothing to do with Rin," Yuri added to the conversation with a sigh, "like I swear some of them were there just to see me."

Practically everyone besides me nodded in agreement which was followed by Sinon commenting, "Well I guess that's just how life is for us."

That's how life is like for them? So facing a big crowd like that is normal for them.

Shinoa then grinned again, "Hey Kirito, did some of them ask you about-"

"Yes," Kirito interrupted before Shinoa could finish, "they did."

Sinon chuckled nervously, "Well, in a way, you can't really blame them. I mean you did receive a lot of backlash ever since that Arch came out."

It was at that point, I decided to stop eves-dropping on their conversation because I simply had no idea what they were talking about.

I drank from my glass of water and then took another biscuit from the table that my friends generously said I could have.

With my teddy sitting comfortably next to me on the couch, I used this time to explore an icon that I never used before on my tablet: notes.

The 'Notes' icon on my tablet was pretty similar to the 'Drawing' icon. With my stylus, I could write or draw anything I wanted. Only difference was that 'Notes' gave me lines paper to write words on which I then could save them into my files. In the settings, I had the option of changing the paper into just a blank sheet of white paper. I usually used the blank sheet of paper as the words I wrote were always way too big to fit on the lines. Not to mention, the words I wrote were generally very messy.

Now that I think about it, I do remember experimenting with this app back in my world. I quickly figured out that the notes were only for words since any drawing I drew did nothing.

But what words would I want to write on this? Maybe I could practice writing but other than that, what else could I use this for-

My thoughts were interrupted when a new person I had never met entered the lounge room. Unlike the other passersby, this girl was dressed really differently and was shorter than me.

The girl's eye colour was light purple which matched the colour of her eyes. She wore two gamepad-shaped hair-clips and a big white hoodie-like dress with and a purple hood as well as a zipper section, two big round pockets, a big zipper with an N on it, and strings resembling a plug.

The short girl instantly spotted me and perked up in excitement, "OMG! You must be the girl from space everyone has been talking!"

Sinon sighed when she heard that girl's voice, "Of all people that had to walk past."

"Rude! Hmph." The girl retaliated with a pout before facing me again. She walked up to me as she commented, "Oh my, you're even adorable in person. Not as cute as me of course but still impressive."

I stared with a confused expression.

I'm not sure what I did but the girl in front of me ended up gasping in horror, "Oh no, don't tell me...no it can't be...you... you don't know who I am?"

"Obviously," Yuri said with an annoyed expression.

"Oh you poor thing," the girl sat patting me on the head, "here let me help me from your sorry state. My goodness, to think that you've never heard of me, where have you been all this time?"

"Maybe in space," Kotori said sarcastically.

Out of nowhere, the girl with light purple hair pulled out a thin rectangular box that had a picture of... her on it and three other girls.

I blinked twice... What is this suppose to be?

"That's right, it's the first game of my video game series, I'm the main character so you'll definitely love it. Don't worry about paying, consider it a gift from me." The girl said with a proud smile as if she had just saved someone's life.

I continue to stare at the object she gave me. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate generous gifts and I am grateful but...

What is this suppose to be? What's a video game series?

"I see my gift has left you speechless, oh stop it you're flattering me, it's the least I can do. And before you ask, I've already signed the CD." The girl explained adding more confusion to my head. It was then she noticed the empty page of notes I had on my tablet, "Oh you want my autograph as well? Of course, you can have it, all you had to do was ask."

She swiped my stylus from my hand and with my hands holding the tablet for her, the girl wrote something very peculiar on my tablet.

She was writing words but the way she wrote was so fast that I thought she was scribbling. But to my surprise, it looked really neat and pretty. I was shocked to see that she wrote it in one swift movement.

It was hard to read judging from all the fancy details in her writing, but overall, I could see the words:

 **Neptune: Hyperdimension Neptunia**

Neptune? I'm guessing that's her name but what do other two words mean?

I looked at the thin rectangular box she gave me and above the picture of her and the other three girls, I noticed the same two words printed on the box.

Neptune continued much to everyone's disapproval, "Now, of course, that's the first game, if you get interested- what am I saying, of course, you'll be interested, just visit this website and you can preorder online, I'll even give you a discount. There's also an anime adaptation so-"

"What are you? An advertiser?" A tall man approached Neptune from behind and lifted her into the air, holding her by her hoodie.

I was so focused on Neptune, I failed to notice the man enter the room. I looked and saw that the man was also dressed differently from the others, he wore a dark green-themed uniform that resembled Yu's and Shinoa's uniform.

"Oi! Put me down!" Neptune ordered, trying to shake her way out of the man's grasp like a complaining child.

The man stared at Neptune with a bored expression, he looked at all my friend, "Hey, who let this pipsqueak get in here?"

"OI! Who are you calling a pipsqueak?! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

Guren blinked, "Nope."

An imaginary arrow shot with the words 'irrelevant' printed on it, shot Neptune in the heart.

Shinoa giggled at the sight while Yu seemed really glad to see him, "Guren! You're here?!"

Guren. He looked really intimidating at first but seeing Yu's face of relief when he saw him calmed my nerve...a bit.

"Nice to see you guys are still young as ever." Guren casually dropped Neptune causing the girl to land on her bottom.

"Ouch! Geez, you could've been a bit more-"

"So!" Guren interrupted as he walked towards me, "You must be the girl from space. You certainly don't look like an alien."

The girl from space? Why does everyone keep calling me that?

Neptune jumped up and down for attention, "Hey! Don't just ignore m-"

"She has a name." Kirito interrupted, pointing out the obvious, he kept a close eye on Guren which Sinon noticed.

"So I've heard." the man replied before looking down at me, "Pleased to meet your acquaintance... Rin," he offered me his hand, "Guren Ichinose."

I stood there, my eyes refused to blink for a second as I nervously yet politely shook his hand.

"Why are you here Guren?" Kirito asked noticing something odd.

Guren let out a tired sigh. He sat on the couch and placed both his feet on the coffee table, right next to the biscuits my friends gave me, "I've been ordered to give Rin an interrogation...alone."

That statement was like an alarm that triggered a mixture of reactions:

Kanade and Black remained completely neutral.

Kotori and Yuri seemed to understand the situation and Shinoa didn't look surprised.

It was mostly Yu and Kirito that was shocked.

"Interrogation? Why?" Yu asked.

"You've all heard the news," Guren replied in a lazy manner, he grabbed one of the biscuits and made himself at home, "not everyone can trust your new friend. Politicians have become awfully wary of the idea of bringing a stranger from space into our borders."

"What exactly is causing them to be wary?" Yu asked.

He let out a tired sigh, "People will think of anything these days... but there are a couple of things that have kept these accusations going," Guren replied as he proceeded to list them, "first, believe or not, there are still those who question whether Rin is actually human. Apparently according to Hange's report, her hair and eye colour changed naturally."

The entire group tensed as they all remembered the event in great detail.

"Second, the technology Rin brought with her is nothing like we have ever seen. So advanced, it makes ours look like a child's toy. However, it seems only Rin can access any of it. Adding onto that, Hange's reports say that there was an unidentified object in the center of her heart which is presumably the reason why Rin's body healed so quickly despite her body remaining stationary for 10 years. This alone sparked two questions: Why did it disappear before arrival and if Rin managed to heal in the time span of only two days, why can't she talk? Shouldn't her vocal chords also have healed? All of this has brought some to the conclusion that Rin... is hiding something."

I flinched.

Hiding something? I never saw it like that. Why would I do that? I would be more than happy to tell my friends everything I know but how? I mean even I don't know the answers to some of their questions. There are some things I do know but there are also a lot of things I haven't got a single clue about. All this is making my head feel confused and mixed up.

Kirito then entered the conversation, "We've already asked Rin enough questions on the way here, which she answered to the best of her abilities. What info is an interrogation going to gain from her?" Kirito asked.

Guren didn't look convinced...at all. Which caused Kirito to raise his voice just by a bit, "she's just a child! How is she not innocent?"

Yu agreed more than ever but couldn't help but feel worried about Kirito's rise in volume. Even I was a bit worried, I never heard him speak that loud.

"Correction, the report says she is 17 years old which clearly makes her a teenager." Guren corrected in a calm tone.

"And she's been alone in space for 10 of those years," Kirito retaliated, "she barely knows anything. What good will come out of interrogating her?"

"Whether she knows anything or not does not matter. I have been given orders to follow and I have no intention of disobeying them," Guren replied, shutting Kirito almost instantly leaving him with nothing else to say, "listen Kirito, if it weren't for the amount of information that the higher-ups are trying to hide from the public, all these random accusations would've been enough to bring Rin to court, consider yourself lucky that she's an exception."

Kirito stopped as if something was stuck in his throat. Seeing the painful dilemma in Kirito's face, Guren got up from the couch and patted Kirito's shoulder, lowering his intimidating tone, "Relax, if Rin really is who you say she is then you have nothing to worry about. Either way, no harm will come to Rin. There are laws you know, we're not savages."

Interrogation. I don't know what that is but it doesn't sound like pleasant. But judging from the conversation, it's something I have to go through. Kirito doesn't want me to go which I felt really grateful for.

I felt glad. That I could rely on people like Kirito and my other friends. But this seems like something only I'm allowed to do and I don't want to give Kirito and the others more trouble than they already have.

With one movement of confidence, I tugged on Kirito's sleeve and looked at him.

"Well, well, looks like she's already set," Guren said with a chuckle.

Kirito looked back at me, his face asking me whether I was really sure.

I gave him a nod of assurance.

All eyes turned to Kirito as they all waited for his response.

Kirito took in a deep breath before finally saying, "Okay."

* * *

It was a small room with nothing much in it: A table, two chairs and the walls themselves illuminated the room with a dim dark blue colour.

What sparked my interest the most, however, was the large mirror on one of the walls. The mirror made the room look twice as bigger as it gave a full view of both Guren and me.

"Take a seat." Guren insisted as he sat down first.

We sat opposite from each other. While this was probably one of the most nervous moments of my life, Guren looked as if he was about to die from boredom.

"Let's get straight into it shall we," Guren began, he pointed at empty drawing tablet that they gave me, "even if you can't talk, you should be able to write, correct?"

I stared at the drawing tablet which looked brand new in my eyes. It was black including the stylus and looked really advanced. The stylus was solid and not holographic like the stylus I used.

Picking up the stylus felt like I was the very first person to ever touch it. The screen reacted as soon as my hand touched the stylus by presenting with a blank white screen.

Not wanting to make Mr. Guren wait, I shakily wrote the words 'like this?" and showed it to him.

Guren looked at what I wrote for a second before bluntly saying, "I've seen 5-year-olds write better than that."

I blinked twice.

* * *

"Ouch, that was a bit harsh," Shinoa said with a half grin.

Unknowing to Rin, behind the mirror, all of her friends were watching her in a separate room. Hange was still nowhere to be found.

"Why didn't we think of that?" Sinon said, referring to the's idea of Rin writing words for a form of communication.

"Even if we did, her vocabulary and writing level doesn't seem to be...you know," Yuri commented as she looked at the words Rin wrote.

The walls made the room soundproof yet everyone made sure to stay quiet.

Kirito watched as he watched with Rin's tablet in his hand. Kanade volunteered to hold her teddy bear again.

* * *

5 years olds write better than? ...Whoa! that's amazing. The people of this world sure must be very talented.

It seemed Guren didn't expect that positive reaction from me, "It wasn't a compliment. But anyways, I've been given a list of question for you to answer. Please keep in mind that everything happens in this room is being recorded as we speak, you don't mind right?" he explained as he held four pieces of paper in his hand.

I shook my head, half understanding the things he just said.

"So where do you come from Rin?" Guren asked, leaning back in his chair.

And so it began.

I wrote the words 'I don't know' on the tablet, although Guren had to squint for a moment to understand what I wrote. Not exactly a good start.

"Okay, this might be more annoying than I thought. How about this, shake your head if now, nod if yes and shrug if you don't know. Got it?"

I nodded.

"Okay moving on...Does the name 'Earth' remind you of anything?"

I shook my head.

"Hmm," Guren took another look at the list of questions he was given, "you spent ten years alone in space correct? What did you do during those years?"

I erased the previous words before writing, 'drawing'.

"Drawing? That's it?" Guren repeated once he was able to read my writing, "and you were _completely_ alone?"

I nodded before realizing a mistake with my answer. While I was alone most of the time, I did meet those hooded boys and that girl with purplish-black hair during the last 7 days. I didn't have time to mention that as Guren quickly moved on.

"You weren't plotting or preparing for anything during those years?"

I shook my head.

"Did you know about us before you got here?"

I shook my head again.

"So you thought you were the only one left huh? ...Then how did your ship end up here?"

I shrugged.

"So your ship landed here by chance?"

I shrugged.

There was a silent pause that followed after that. It was a short pause though.

"Moving on, the team claims that you can't speak, is that true?"

I look at him for a second before giving a confused nod. I thought Guren already knew that.

"And yet it says here, they have heard you say your name and the word 'dad' before, how is it that you were able to say those words?"

This question took me a couple of moments to think about this question.

I picked up the drawing tablet and wrote the words, "it was hard" on it and showed it to him.

"So you can speak, but you just find it very difficult."

I nodded.

"Can you try saying your name now?"

I flinched. It wasn't until now that I realized I haven't tried to talk more. I've always been the listener in most conversation so far.

But I tried nonetheless.

"...R...R..."

Guren stared with a bored expression causing my nervousness to increase by the second.

"R-R...Ri-"

"Stop, that's enough." Guren interrupted, holding up his hand like a stop sign in a leisurely manner. He continued, "...Apologies if I'm touching a sensitive topic but do you know anything about your father."

I was taken a bit back by that question. Exactly how much was in that report?

Nonetheless, the topic about my dad...made me nod with a proud smile.

"Really? Would you mind telling me everything you know about him?" he asked with a tiny spark of interest.

I picked up the stylus and wrote on the drawing tablet. After writing the best I could, I pick up the tablet and showed him. I tried the best I could so that the words would properly spell, 'He was really kind.'

"Of course he was," Guren said with a half grin. A feeling in my instincts told me that wasn't the type of answer he was expecting.

I quickly erase the words and wrote new ones.

'A good person.'

Once again, I erase the words to write more.

Guren waited patiently as I wrote.

'The best dad.'

My hand decided to write more.

'I loved him and he loved me.' To accompany those words, I drew a short sketch of me and my dad playing together, I even added my teddy bear into the drawing.

I proudly showed it to Guren.

Everything went silent.

For a moment, Guren just looked at the words I wrote and then at my drawing. His expression was unreadable, only adding more pressure to me.

Did I answer wrong? Was that not the answer he expected? Does my drawing look awful? Oh no, what if he thinks I'm still-

Guren suddenly chuckled. It was almost a full laugh but mostly a brief short chuckle.

I looked at him, confused.

"Sorry, I just..." Guren stopped to look closely at my drawing before replying, "I just realized how pointless this all is."

Guren then did the last thing I expected. He grabbed the four pieces of paper that had the list of questions for me to answer...and threw them into the air.

I stared as the paper flew in the air before softly flying to the ground. Ripping my eyes away from the fallen paper, I stared back at Guren.

* * *

Watching from behind the mirror, a couple of comments were sparked from Rin's friends.

"Oh _, now_ he realizes" Kotori spoke sarcastically.

Yu was just confused at this point while Shinoa just giggled.

Kanade held onto Rin's teddy bear while Black wasn't even watching.

"I swear that guy is just...Didn't he just say a moment ago that he had no intention in disobeying orders?" Yuri asked as she looked at the pieces of paper Guren threw away. Those papers had the questions that Guren were ordered to ask.

Kirito couldn't help but feel relieved as if he had just cleared a huge obstacle.

* * *

"Sorry for bothering you Rin," Guren apologied again, "I just wanted to test for myself whether you were an **_actor_** or not."

Still just as confused, I titled my head wondering what he meant by _actor._ What's an actor?

"Although, do you mind if I ask you one more question?" Guren asked with a tired yet curious expression.

I shook my head. Even though I felt this was coming to an end, Guren seemed curious so I didn't mind.

"Do you have any motives or goals after we let you go?"

I titled my head again to the other side, not fully understanding what he meant by that.

Guren repeated himself, "Do you have any plans for the future? Anything specific, you want to do after this is all over."

I had to think about this one. I never really thought about it.

I was so focused on the fact that I was in a new world that I forgot what I wanted to do in this new world.

My mind drifted for an answer. I don't think I have any answ-

Suddenly I remembered.

I looked up at Guren...and nodded.

Almost instantly, Guren no longer looked tired and instead, highly interested.

"You do? Would you care to tell?"

I picked up the tablet again and wrote the words... **'to meet someone'** on it.

Guren seemed really surprised to read those words, "You're expecting to meet someone? Your father?"

I shook my head before writing the words 'a girl' on my tablet.

"A girl you say? Do you know her name?"

I shook my head.

"How about her age?"

I'm actually not sure but I guess she was around the same age as she was only a bit taller than me. I answer Guren's question by pointing at myself.

"Do you know what she looks like?"

I nodded, I wrote the words 'blackish-purple hair' on the tablet.

Guren looked at my answer for a few moments before asking, "Why do you want to meet her?"

'we made a promise.'

"A promise?" Guren asked, getting more invested by the second, "When did you make this prom- No, let me rephrase that... _when the last time you met this girl?"_

I picked up the drawing tablet and with the black stylus, I simply wrote the words... 'last night' on it.

I don't know what I did, but Guren was once again, surprised by my answer. But he remained quiet.

After a moment that was oddly tensed, Guren turned his head and looked at the mirror. I too looked at the mirror, wondering who Guren was staring at.

But before anything else could happen, the door to the room opened and Hange burst through, panting for breath, "Stop the interrogation!"

I stared, baffled at how tired Hange was. Looked like she had been running a lot.

"We were just finishing," Guren replied as he looked over to Hange, "judging from your rude interruption, I assume you have something important to tell us all."

"Yes..." Hange panted for a few more breaths before declaring, "we _all_ owe Rin...a HUGE favour."

* * *

Everyone gathered back in the lounge room with Hange standing in the middle.

"With a bit of help, I've finished decrypting parts of the data that I received during that time when Rin opened her ship." Hange began.

"Go on," Kirito insisted anxiously as everyone listened, "what type of favour do we owe Rin."

"I know you all have a lot of questions so I'll get straight to the point," Hange cleared her, took in a deep breath before announcing, "Rin's father... _is the original inventor of the Fictional Reality Field."_

Disbelief and shock bounced around the room at the revelation. I didn't really understand but I knew it was about my dad so I was just as interested.

"The proof is all there," Hange continued, "It's definitely no coincidence that the blueprints I found in the data are completely identical to the first blueprints we used to create the _FRF."_

It was then, Sinon realised, "So that's why the inventor of the FRF was always a mystery because until now, no one actually knew who he was."

B-But how is that even possible?" Yuri asked, still comprehending the fact that Hange had announced, "Rin's father clearly lived on a different planet that was light years away from us, contact between the two would've been impossible-"

"That's where you're wrong," Hange interrupted, only adding more questions into the pile, "long ago... we... did receive some sort of message from a far unknown location-"

"Rin's father?!" Yu guessed instantly, "But how and when was this!?"

"Let the woman speak, Yu." Guren ordered causing Yu and everyone else to remain listening.

"For your information, I believe the name of Rin's father is Shigeru, he was a scientist and engineer if I am not mistaken." Hange continued slowly, she didn't want to overwhelm everyone with information so quickly, "During that time, the messages were very static and it always took us weeks to decrypt each message he sent us but nonetheless, we were clearly communicating with Shigeru. I was there when it all happened. As a group, we decided to keep it a secret mostly because at the time, even we had no idea who the sender was and where he was from. Some of us even accused him of being a hacker... Shigeru wasted no time as soon as we replied to his message. After briefly asking what our world was like, Shigeru quickly sent us the blueprints of the FRF asking us if we could create it on our planet since apparently, he didn't have the manpower to do it himself. Of course, he couldn't send the blueprints all together, so he sent it... bit... by bit...by bit. Because of that, not much of a conversation was sparked during out exchange. And then the strangest happened: all his messages began to feel...extremely rushed. Rushed as if, he was on some sort of time limit. He sent the messages faster than we could decrypt, he gave up on talking to us and no longer waited for us to reply...he was purely focused on sending us those blueprints. This continued for months...until he finally sent the final piece of the blueprint...the blueprints that made the FRF what is it today."

There was a pause in Hange throat triggering Kanade to ask.

"And then?"

"Nothing..." Hange replied, "he stopped sending messages altogether. After multiple attempts, we sent one final message to Shigeru, telling him that the result of his invention was a huge success... _that was ten years ago._ "

Everyone instantly put two and two together. Ten years. That number was certainly no coincidence.

"To be able to send you those messages... he must've found the coordinates of our planet. He knew we were here, that's why he sent Rin into space with no hesitation." Kirito added, he was the first to speak and recover after that huge revelation that Hange presented them with, "...If you think about it, Shigeru must've planned all of this: he built a single-passenger life-support spacecraft so Rin would survive the destruction of Earth. He _knew_ people were going to question Rin's arrival which is exactly why beforehand he invented the Fiction Reality Field for us so that... we could trust him. Like Hange said, by inventing the FRF, our generations do owe Shigeru a huge favour. There are millions of lives out there who have careers and jobs because of the FRF... _and that includes us_."

"And since Shigeru is most likely deceased..." Sinon pointed out before Shinoa finished the sentence.

"The only way to return the favour is by taking care of his daughter...very clever."

"All this, just so Rin could live a happy life." Kirito finished, he was beginning to realise how amazing this man was.

"But how did he even have _the time_ to do all this? How did he manage to balance keeping Rin happy while also planning all this?" Yuri asked.

"Fathers will do _anything_ for their daughters," Guren replied in a respectful manner.

"I agree," Hange said before she faced me, "Rin...you must've been what pushed your dad to work so hard. Everything he did was for you after all. You were his main motivation."

All eyes turned to me.

I may not have understood most of the things Hange just said but there was one thing I did understand: my dad really was an amazing, loving person. He really did spend most of his life on me. Usually, I would feel guilty but all I could think about was how grateful I was to have him as a dad.

Throughout all these years, even after passing away, he never abandoned me. He never forgot about me. He was always thinking about me.

It made me happy to hear all the things my dad did for me. There was something about hearing it all from another person that felt very comforting and...and...

A single tear fell from my eye but that was it.

Not wanting to appear weak, I gave everyone a strong, gentle smile. All my friends each gave their sympathetic response: some laughed, some smiled back, Shinoa even said 'aww'.

Meanwhile, Black leaned against the wall in the corner with her arms crossed and eyes closed.

"So..." Shinoa spoke up for everyone to hear, "what now?"

"We tell everyone," Kanade replied.

"Of course!" Kotori replied, "tell the world, spread the news. The public is practically _dying_ to know who Rin is anyways. The crowd we fought through was a clear example of that."

"Well, to be fair, the only thing the public knows about Rin is that she's a girl and is from space," Sinon said in defense.

"Yeah but I think we've kept enough secrets for now." Yuri said while eyeing Hange, "As for Rin, it's only fair we let her go to do what she wants."

"While giving her the hospitality she deserves of course," Hange added.

"Wait," Kirito stopped as he realized something very important, "who's going to take care of Rin from now on?"

The room was really silent.

All eyes turned and looked at Kirito with a blank expression.

"Well, _you_ of course," Shinoa said as if Kirito had just asked the dumbest question.

Kirito had to blink a couple of times before exclaiming, "EHHH?!"

"What's the problem? Isn't that what you wanted?" Yuri asked.

"Yeah and besides, you're like the perfect candidate, Rin already seems really close to you." Shinoa agreed before remembering, "Of course, if you really don't want to, we could ask Black to-"

Black sent Shinoa a death glared.

"Never-mind."

Kirito looked at each one of my friends, "Guys, just waita-"

I gently clapped my hands excitedly.

Kirito will be taking care of me?... That's so kind of him!

I looked up at Kirito with imaginary stars in my eyes.

Kirito laughed nervously, "Rin, please slow down."

"See? Rin is fine with it." Shinoa said as she patted me on the head while grinning mischievously at him, "Oh come on Kirito, you can't possibly reject such an adorable face."

"Guys, this isn't a decision I can just make in minutes," Kirito waved his hands defensively, "at the very least, I should talk with Asu-"

"If you want to adopt, I'll happily set up the paperwork for you," Guren suggested.

"Guren, you too?!"

Guren just shrugged, "I don't see why not. Your the only person whose suitable, even Rin's tablet seems to trust you."

"Eh?"

Everyone stopped once again. All of our eyes walked over to my tablet that was in Kirito's hand.

It was then, we all realised it. Seemed like Guren noticed it a while ago.

Ever since I got my tablet, anyone who touched it, the tablet turned to stone yet here Kirito was, holding my tablet in perfect condition.

"See! It's fate, it was meant to be." Shinoa pushed, "Not to mention, it would be _so_ like your character to adopt. I mean your character has already done it once."

"Why are you guys suddenly so insistent?" Kirito asked although everyone was too busy insisting to answer that.

Pretty much everyone besides Black was encouraging Kirito at this point, it was mostly Shinoa though. Wait, actually Hange was surprisingly silent as she seemed to be contemplating about something.

"Guys, it's not that simple. It can't be done just like that." Kirito said, trying to slow everyone down so he could think.

"Actually you can." Kanade raised her a hand with a face that showed she was natural yet she was clearly not on Kirito's side.

"Hello?! Do you know where we are?" Shinoa asked rhetorically as she waved her arm, pointing at the room, "Were in HQ, this is where all the boring official paperwork takes place. You might as well do it now, while you're still here."

Kirito looked at Shinoa before looking at me.

With Shinoa barely giving him any other options, Kirito finally let out a large tired sigh, "I need to think about this okay... Guren can I please talk with you for a moment, in private."

* * *

While waiting, I sat down on a chair next to Hange, in the middle of a hallway.

My tablet laid neatly on my lap while I wrapped my arms around my teddy bear.

Hange was looking at her phone and I was looking over Hange's shoulder.

On her phone, Hange said we were watching something called 'live security camera footage' of people in vehicles moving my spaceship.

Currently, it looked nothing like a spaceship and just looked like a weirdly shaped piece of hardened rock.

"It's beautiful isn't it," Hange commented as she remembered the time when we first saw it's true form.

I nodded in agreement.

"All of your dad's life work is in there you know," Hange added, "his research, visions, everything. It might take another century to put it into work but this might change the whole world. "

I nodded again...not completely understand what she meant by that.

"You know I remember the time when our world changed because of-"

Just when I thought Hange was about to get into one of her very long talks that was probably going to last a very long time, I heard Shinoa's voice call.

"Hey Rin!"

We both turned to look and I saw all my friends standing at the end of the hallway, looking at me.

There was something different about the atmosphere around them. It didn't feel like anything bad but it was certainly different from the usual mood when I'm around them.

"As much as it pains me to say this... this is goodbye," Shinoa said.

My face fell as if it was just slapped with disappointment.

Goodbye? Wait so, they're leaving? Now? Already? I thought we were all going to...to...

Not wanting to believe this, I stood up and ran down the hallway until I was right in front of them.

I looked at each one of them, wondering where they were all going.

Shinoa giggled as she patted my shoulder, "Wow, look at you run, I felt it was just yesterday when Kirito had to carry you everywhere on the ship. You kids grow up so fast these days." she joked with a cheeky grin.

"That was only two days ago." Kanade pointed out, not understanding Shinoa's humor.

Shinoa faced me and placed her hands on both my shoulders, she noticed my expression, "Aww Rin, I wish I could stay longer and hang out with you but there are places we all need to be."

Places to be? Where? Why? Will we ever see each other again?

Shinoa looked at me for one moment. Something told me she knew what I wanted to ask her yet she changed the subject, "You know what, I think Neptune had the right idea before. I'll give you my signature as a goodbye present, I still have time before I leave."

Neptune. Signature. That's right, I still have that note page where Neptune gave me her so-called 'autograph'. I still don't know what an autograph is and what it's for but it seems Shinoa wanted to give me one.

Almost automatically, I take out my tablet and open up the note page where Neptune wrote down her signature.

Shinoa smiled as I gave her my stylus to write with.

She proceeded to write and once again, the way she wrote was very different to the way Neptune wrote. Shinoa's writing was just as fast as Neptune's but hers was more gentle and her signature looked more dark themed.

Comparing Neptune's and Shinoa's was like comparing complete opposites.

"There we go," Shinoa finished as she gave back my holographic stylus. I looked at what she wrote: like Neptune's, it had decorations and pretty swirls but overall the words spelled out-

 **Hīragi Shinoa: Seraph The End**

"There! Now you won't forget me even if we never see each other again." Shinoa finished with a bright smile.

"How generous of you," Kotori said sarcastically.

I looked at Shinoa in worry. Of course, I'll never forget you, you're one of the first friends I ever made in this world. Why would I? And what do you mean we might never see each other? So there's a chance we won't see each other ever again?...Just thinking about it, made my heart fell really down.

Maybe that's what autographs is for. A signature that reminds you that you met this person and you look at it so you'll never forget about them. If that's what autographs are, I felt a bit guilty since I didn't have an autograph myself that I could give Shinoa or all my others friends. What if they forget about me?

Before anything else could be said, Black emerged from the back of the group and approached me.

I looked up at her and she looked down at up.

With neither of us exchanging any words, I offered Black my stylus.

She gently took it and began writing.

 **Black Rock Shooter**

As soon as Black finished writing, she gave me back my stylus.

Then...Without saying anything, without looking at me or even waving goodbye... Black turned around and began to walk away.

I stared at Black's retreating form. I kinda expected it from a quiet person like her... yet I couldn't help but feel a bit empty seeing her go like this.

I stared as she just walked away.

"Don't worry about her, Rin," I looked at Shinoa as she told me, "Black treats everyone like that so don't take it personally okay."

I looked at Shinoa for a second.

I know that. It's just...I feel like I need to show her some form of gratitude but I've gotten the chance to.

Almost about to give up, I looked back at Black.

My heart jumped in surprise.

Black had stopped. Her head was turned and her blue, glowing circle eyes were looking directly into mine.

Not scared at the slightest, I stared back at her. Black's expression hadn't changed an inch since the first time I ever saw her. When I first met her, her usual expression always felt like an intimidating glare but for some reason, now it felt like really...assuring.

As if Black was telling me to not worry about it.

After what seemed like minutes flying by, Black turned her head and walked away.

At first, I thought that was it, but then Black did the last thing I expected her to do.

With the back of her head still facing me, Black raised her arm... and waved goodbye.

I waved back. No longer feeling empty for some reason.

And just like that, Black left. Completely gone from sight.

"Whoa, I think that's the first time I ever saw Black wave goodbye to someone," Yuri admitted before realising, "but then again, I haven't known her for long. Anyways, I guess I'll go next!"

Yuri turned to me and gave me a sweet smile, "Goodbye Rin, it was a pleasure to have met you. If by chance we do meet again in the future, let's go shopping and try out more clothes together again, okay... as good friends."

I nodded happily, excited at the thought. It was really fun the first time, thank you.

I bowed my head to show my gratitude.

Yuri smiled as she gladly took the stylus and wrote her signature.

 **Nakamura Yuri: Angel Beats**

"My turn!" Yu volunteered next as Yuri handed him the stylus.

Before he started writing, he had a few words to say, "Good luck with your future okay, I hope you have a great life. I may not have known you for long, but I can tell you're an amazing person...just like your father."

Yu finished his signature:

 **Hyakuya Yūichirō:** **Seraph The End**

Seraph The End? Sounds a bit spooky. I noticed Shinoa had written the same three words with her signature, I wonder why? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they were wearing the same uniform. Oh well, now wasn't really the time to ask.

Now it was Kanade's turn.

Kanade spoke briefly yet genuinely, "Farewell Rin, thank you for letting me borrow your teddy bear. It was nice to hold onto."

I bow my head back at her. I should be thanking her, although I was glad to hear she enjoyed borrowing my father's birthday present.

Kanade writes her signature:

 **Tachibana Kanade: Angel Beats**

Kanade then politely handed my stylus to Sinon.

"You've got quite the collection there, Rin." She commented as she added onto the list:

 **Asada Shino: Phantom Bullet (Sword Art Online)**

Oh yeah, I completly forgot. How stupid of me. Sinon isn't her real name, it's a nickname that her friends call her.

"Don't worry about not seeing me," Sinon assured, "if you're going to be with Kirito, we'll definitely see each again from time to time."

A part of me sighed in relief, so for Sinon, this wasn't the last goodbye. Well, I hope it isn't the last goodbye for _any_ of my friends but at least I can guarantee it with Sinon.

With Sinon done, everyone turned to look at Kotori.

"Come on Kotori," Shinoa insisted.

Kotori sighed, "Sure, might as well I guess."

Sinon handed Kotori the stylus.

Like the others, Kotori finished her signature in one quick movement.

 **Itsuka Kotori: Date a Live**

"Hey, take this," Kotori reached into her pocket and pulled out yet another lollipop, "it's a different flavour so it'll taste different. You seem to have already finished the other one I gave you."

My eyes open a bit wider as I just remembered. I put my hand to my mouth and realised that the previous lollipop she gave me was gone. Even the white stick.

I had completely forgotten that I even had that in my mouth...where did the white stick go? Did I accidentally swallow it? I hope not.

I bowed my head, saying thank you as I happily accepted Kotori's gift.

"What are you brats up to?" Asked a familiar voice.

Everyone turned around. It was Guren and Kirito walking towards us.

"Oh, you're giving out autographs now huh?" Guren noticed with a half smile.

"Come on Guren, you too!" Shinoa encouraged. Yu also insisted.

Guren let out another tired sigh, "Giving autographs to a girl who just arrived from space. What has our generation come to?"

Despite his comment, Guren took the stylus and willingly wrote his signature.

 **Ichinose Guren:** **Seraph The End**

"Oh! Oh! My turn!" Hange volunteered as she swiped the stylus.

 **Hange Zoë: Attack On Titan**

After she finished writing, she looked up at me in pure gratitude, returning to her usual obsessed excitement, "I can't describe how much of an honour it was to meet you Rin. I'll make sure to drop by and visit okay? As soon as I get free time I'll-"

Guren interrupted by pulling Hange by the collar, "Don't give the girl any false hopes, of all people, you're the last person who's going to get any free time."

Kirito stood beside me as everyone got ready to leave.

It was sad. Seeing that they had to go. Especially since I had just met some of them. But I didn't cry nor did I complain, I didn't want to bother them anymore. They've all done so much for me, the least I can do is show my gratitude.

"Oh! By the way, Rin!" Shinoa exclaimed catching everyone's attention, "There's something really important that you need to know before we leave."

I titled my head, wondering what was so important.

I noticed everyone giving Shinoa a look as if they all already knew what she was going to say. But despite that, they remained silent and let Shinoa continued.

Shinoa gave me a very mischievous smile as she revealed a very unexpected plot twist, "Hīragi Shinoa... _is not actually my real name._ In fact, none of us here have actually told you any of our real names."

My eyes opened wider than ever at the fact.

Not their real names? Wait, so they lied about their names?

"You see, 'Shinoa' is simply the name of the _character_ that I play as..." Shinoa continued, she paused to add a dramatic effect, "...Rin, I don't know how life works on Earth...But on this planet, people like us...live _very_ differently.

I stared back in shock, not fully understanding what Shinoa meant by that.

"You see people like us... **are known as Actors,"** Shinoa explained with a grin, "and if you're going to hang out with Kirito, you're going to meet a lot of people like us, I can assure that."

I try to process Shinoa's words. Actors...Actors...what's an actor?

"And just to let you know how much we owe your father," Shinoa pointed at the transparent bracelet and tapped it. Thousands of tiny blue pixels appeared around Shinoa's hand and combined together to create a demonic scythe, she flawlessly twirled the big scythe before placing it over the back of her neck creating a cool pose, **"it was your father's invention that made people like us who we are today."**

The Fictional Reality Field. I remembered Hange explaining how those bracelets are a smaller version of the fields. So my dad created that huh? My dad's creation made my friends who they are? I wonder what she means by that.

"Now that I think about it," Shinoa mentioned as she remembered something, "in a way, you can _see_ us whenever you want. All you need to do is go on the internet and type in Seraph The End and it'll- wait no, on second thought, don't do that. Considering your mentally seven years old, you may have to wait another ten years till you're old enough to watch-"

"Shinoa!" Kotori interrupted as he looked at his watch, "We have to go, now."

"Oh yeah sorry, I sounded like Neptune for a moment. Anyways, bye Rin!... Till we meet again."

I waved back, hoping the best of luck for all of them for whatever they need to do.

Before leaving, Guren gave Kirito one last comment, "Good luck Kirito, you're going to need it."

"Yeah, especially after all that backlash you got since the Fairy Dance Arch," Shinoa added with a cheeky grin.

Kirito sighed at the comment, "Please don't remind me."

All of my friends suddenly shared a friendly playful laugh together, except for me who didn't understand the joke. Maybe it was an inside joke.

We were all happy in the end, despite having to say goodbye. Maybe it was because we all held the hope of seeing each other again.

I certainly did and I do look forward to when we do.

After we all waved and said our final goodbyes...we parted ways.

It was just me and Kirito now.

I turned my head and give him a confused look. I was hoping he could explain about some of the things Shinoa had said.

Luckily, Kirito had an accurate guess on what I was thinking about and replied, "It's... a long story really. Not sure where to start... Do you know what _Method Acting_ is?"

I shook my head. I haven't got the slightest clue.

"Oh well, I'll tell you another time," Kirito gave up as he gently rubbed my head, "right now, there's someone I want you to meet."

I was a bit surprised as I didn't expect to meet another person so soon but I guess I should in this world. I nodded joyfully as the thought of meeting someone new excited me to no end.

Before leaving, I looked back at the hallway where all my new friends once stood.

I've already said it a couple of time but...I really do hope we meet again.

"Come on Rin, let's go."

I turned around and followed Kirito...

walking in the opposite direction that my friends went in.

* * *

We were in a vehicle called a car.

An automatic car, to be more specific. At least that's what Kirito said.

We both sat in silence. I was in the passengers' seat, my teddy bear was in the back and Kirito was in the driver's seat.

Both seats were in the front and were practically almost the same besides the fact that the driver had access to a wheel.

Kirito wasn't using the wheel though so I'm not sure what the wheel is used for.

We were driving in a tunnel, illuminated by bright blue lights. The tunnel didn't contain much, there were two lanes where cars drove forward and another two lanes where cars drove in the opposite direction. Kirito said this tunnel was only used by staff members who worked in that large building we were just in. There were a lot of cars that drove past us which mostly consisted of people who were either driving from work or to work.

On the ceiling of the tunnel, there were a bunch of holographic billboards that we kept passing. Each one of them, according to Kirito, had an 'ad' on them. I don't now what an 'ad' was but I think they are used for giving things away or something like that.

"Sorry we couldn't drive outside Rin," Kirito apologized, "I know you must've wanted to see the view of what this planet looks like but now that people know who you are, there are a lot of people out there looking for you."

I shrugged, assuring Kirito that I didn't mind. In fact, I liked it better this way, even though I am eager to see what this world looked like for real.

It's not that I didn't want to meet people. I love meeting new people it's just...I never knew walking through a huge crowd of them could be so scary.

At first, the two of us sat silently in the car. I was busy looking at all the other different cars that drove past until Kirito asked.

"Hey, Rin? Can I ask you something?"

I turned away from the window and nodded at him, telling him I was more than happy to listen.

There was something in the tone of his voice that made me more curious about what he had to ask?

"It is true that you plan on meeting a girl?" Kirito asked.

I mentally jumped in surprise. It's not like I wanted to keep it a secret, it's just the only person I remember telling was Guren and that was only because he asked. So how does he know? Seeing that was not important now, I focused on answering his questions.

I nodded.

"and you've already met her?"

I nodded.

"Are you two already friends?"

I nodded.

"And you're sure that this girl is somewhere here on this planet and not from...you know." Kirito asked.

I shrugged. Honestly, even I don't know where or even how I'll end up meeting her, but even so...

I opened my tablet and wrote the words, "we made a promise" on it before showing Kirito.

"Oh yeah that's right, you did," Kirito said briefly.

I guess he also knew about the promise. Maybe he watched the interrogation from one of those security cameras that Hange told me about, Guren did say the whole thing was recorded.

"and you made this promise with her...last night?" Kirito asked.

I nodded.

"On the ship?"

I nodded again.

There was a short pause in Kirito's words.

"A-are you sure it wasn't a dream? Black said you were hallucinating, maybe that's what it was?" Kirito suggested. It felt more like he was trying to explain it to himself rather than to me.

I just shrugged. I didn't know what the word hallucinating meant but even I'm not sure how I met that girl. It could've been a dream, it could've been real. It certainly felt real. I do remember everything turning black after I made that promise so maybe it was a dream. I don't know anymore, there are still so many questions I have that have been left unanswered...but I do know one thing. We made a promise, a promise to meet each other one day...I can't help but wonder when that'll happen.

"What promise did you two make?" Kirito asked purely out of his curiosity, "Do you still remember?"

I nodded with a smile as I relived the moment in my head, remembering the exact words she said.

I erased the previous words and wrote new ones but this one took me a while to write, Kirito waited calmly though so it was fine.

After finishing, I showed him what I wrote.

'That we'll tell each other our names.'

Once again, Kirito said nothing as he just looked at the words I wrote for a silent moment.

"I see..." Kirito finally replied after he thinking about something, "she must be quite the extraordinary person if you want to meet her so badly, even though you don't even know her name."

I nodded in agreement. The girl with blackish purple hair was the very first person I met in a very long time. I spent years in that world and yet she was able to make my heart feel excited in a single day.

After asking all the questions he had, Kirito decided to let it go and finish the conversation with, "Well I guess we'll just have to see what happens in the future."

I nodded in agreement as I turned to look forward.

It wasn't till now that I noticed the adrenaline of excitement in my heart.

This was it.

This was the beginning of a new life.

It was like everything that had happened until now was just building up to this moment.

Even now it's hard for me to comprehend: I'm in a new world filled with new things to explore.

No longer living in my own word, I can finally experience a moment of freedom and joy.

A moment where could I finally...finally...finally do what?

What exactly did I want to do again?

Is there even anything I want to do?

(FLASHBACK)

"Do you have any plans for the future? Anything specific, you want to do after this is all over."

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

I'm guessing a goal is something like a target that you want to achieve in the future.

Do I have a goal?

Sure, I have that promise to fulfill... but then what? And what do I do in the meantime?

Do I even have a main goal? What exactly do I want to do?

Meet more people? Go shopping with Yuri and Kanade? Get another lollipop from Kotori? Hear more of Shinoa's jokes again?

Is my only goal really just to reunite with all my new friends...but I just said goodbye to them, I shouldn't be wanting that so soon.

I said I would be strong and live a happy life.

That's right, my dad wanted me to live a happy life... but then again, now that I think about it.

I don't really know what a 'happy life' means exactly. Can you really live a happy life with no real goal or motive?

With no goal, I could just be aimlessly going around and doing random things as the days pass which...oddly sounds exactly like what I did back in my digital world.

...

I decided to stop thinking about it.

I shook my head a bit rougher, so I could forget.

I felt like thinking about it was only going to add more to the queue of questions I already have lined up in my head. Besides, finding a goal shouldn't be rushed like this in the first place right? At least I think so.

But it's hard not to think about it. If only I had something to distra-

I stopped my train of thought.

I realised I had forgotten something.

Kirito's signature. I haven't asked him for it yet.

I quickly pull out the page of my friend's autographs and look over to Kirito.

Kirito quickly noticed. He took one look at my tablet's screen and smiled as he already knew what I was going to ask for.

"Sure things, Rin."

I handed him the stylus and tablet.

To think that Kirito was the last person out of the entire group to put his signature on the list.

"There you go Rin, I must say, you've collected quite the list," Kirito said as he finished writing.

 **Kirigayo Kazuto: Sword Art Online**

Sword Art Online? Sinon's signature has the same three words on it. In fact, all the signatures have weird words next to their names, I wonder what they mean.

(FLASHBACK)

"You _see people like us... **are known as Actors."**_

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

So Kirito is an actor. Maybe...just maybe...that could be my goal. To be an actor like Kirito...although I still don't know what an actor is though.

Oh well, Kirito said he'll explain another time so I decided to forget about that thought for now.

I brought my attention to the list of autographs I had collected. They all looked so pretty all gathered together like that.

They all involved cursive writing yet each signature had a tiny unique aspect to it that always succeeded in making it different from the others. It was hard to believe that these signatures could be done in one hand movement.

Some of them were similar though in terms of theme and colour.

Neptune's theme and colour were cute and mostly consisted of the colour pink. Everything about it was.

Guren's, Yu's and Shinoa's all had the same theme which was a dark green theme.

The theme of Kanade's and Yuri's was almost the opposite of Shinoa's and everything I looked at it had an angelic feeling. Somehow, Yuri's signature contrasted Kanade's in a way I could not describe.

Hange's signature was written in a way that made it looked like it was written years ago.

The one that belonged to Sinon and Kirito however, had colours and a writing style that made it look very futuristic like this world.

Black's was...well... in my eyes, the words looked like they were written in regular black cursive writing. I do admit, there was something about it that suited Black's personality.

After going through each one, I realised a similarity.

The signatures that had similar themes had the same strange words next to them: Hyperdimentional Neptunia. Angel Beats. Seraph The End. Attack on Titan. Sword Art Online.

All of them had one except for Black's signature. I wonder why Black's signature doesn't have one.

Shinoa also did say something about an 'internet'. What's an in-

"This should be far enough," Kirito said as he pressed a button that was on the driver's wheel, "heads up Rin, you won't want to miss this."

The car smoothly turned left and drove on a road that gradually ascended higher and higher.

My heart instantly leaps in excitement as my eyes jumped from the screen to the window.

At the end of the ascending tunnel, a bright light began taking form. A light that only could mean one thing.

We were finally going outside.

* * *

Every aspect exceeded my expectations.

Everywhere I looked, there were at least a hundred interesting details to explain:

Buildings that reached the clouds, cars of different sizes, some were even hovering, diving in all directions; and giants screens on buildings which either showed a colourful ad or a picture of pretty people.

Each building seemed to hold their own purpose. Driving past them all, it was hard to look at them all in detail.

There were people...everywhere.

All types of people were walking left and right, on the pathway, each minding their business and heading to their own destination.

Roads gave cars access to every part of the city. I could look up and see roads built in the air with small tiny rocket boasters holding them up.

For a while, we were stuck in a thing that Kirito said was called a traffic jam. There was this pole that held a red light which stopped a bunch of cars from driving so that other cars could drive through.

I didn't mind being stuck, it gave me more time to see what the city was light.

The red light turned green and we started moving again.

Apparently, the place Kirito wanted to go wasn't in the city as we began driving away from it and into a neighborhood type of area.

When entering the neighborhood area, Kirito ordered.

"Computer, switch to manual."

On Kirito's order, the wheel in front of him began glowing signifying that it was on.

Kirito took the wheel and turned it left and frankly enough... the car also turned left.

So that is what it's for. So the car can drive by itself or the person can use the wheel.

The neighborhood was surprisingly more green and consisted mostly of houses. With trees neatly placed next to each other next to the road and lots of grass areas where I saw other people doing a selection of things: jogging, kicking a ball and on one occasion, I saw a man walking next to a creature I had never seen before. The creature had brown fur and around its neck was a collar which was attached to a leash that the owner of the creature held onto.

I must've been staring at my surrounding for a while as before I knew it, I heard Kirito's voice.

"Okay! This is where she agreed to meet us."

Kirito parked the car next to a park that currently had no people around.

While we exited the car, another car that looked similar to the one Kirito drove, arrived and parked near us.

The park itself had nothing more than lots of grass and a...playground. A playground that had a-

"Hello Kirito," I heard a new female voice say, "glad to see you had a safe trip." Her voice sounded gentle and silvery.

"Oh hey, you made it," Kirito waved casually, "I'm surprised they let you go early."

"Well, it's not every day I get a call from you during work, especially if it's to discuss 'urgent' matters."

Kirito chuckled, "Sorry, I know you have a busy timetable but-"

"Oh no that's fine, I can always work around it."

A woman, near the same age as Kirito, appeared from the car that parked near us.

The only two words I had to describe her was really elegant and beautiful.

She had long, orange-brownish chestnut hair and hazel eyes. What she wore was something Yuri would describe as 'casual': red shorts and a pink dolly jumper.

Now that I thought about, I could've sworn I saw her face on one of those giant screens when we were driving through the city.

The two of them seemed really delighted to see each other. It was as if seeing each other was their form of happiness.

So this is the person Kirito wanted me to meet.

"Well? What 'urgent' matters did you want to dis-" The woman stopped as soon as she noticed me.

I stared at her and she stared back at me.

Her expression suddenly changed into a more suspicious look.

She looked back at Kirito with a very annoyed expression, "Kirito."

I flinched. She was beginning to look very scary suddenly. I found it baffling how one's expression could change so fast.

Out of instincts and shyness, I hid behind Kirito, clinging onto his shirt.

Although that seemed to only make the situation worst as Kirito nervously chuckled.

"Kirito. Who is she?"

"Asuna. Calm down, let me ex-"

The woman's eyebrow twitched as she clenched her fist, "Kirito, I swear... if she's another girl that Kawahara wants to add to your harem, I'm going to-"

"Kawahara has nothing to do with this and for your information, this girl is much younger than she looks," Kirito explained slowly while raising his hands in defense, "to put it simply, were probably going have to raise her from now on."

"Wait so...YOU ADOPTED A GIRL?!" The woman exclaimed in shock.

"No. No. Let me rephrase that, we've been... entrusted to take care of this girl for the time being," Kirito quickly corrected himself, "although I was _strongly_ offered that suggestion by multiple people. But I wasn't going to without talking to you first."

She looked at Kirito for a short moment before finally calming down, she placed her hand on her forehead to let herself think, "Okay...can I see her?"

"Well, you kinda scared her."

The woman let out a tired sigh before walking closer, "Hello there, sorry for scaring you like that."

Her tone of voice had returned to it's gentle and silvery state.

I peeked my head over Kirito's shoulder and looked at her.

The woman smiled brightly at me, "Hi! My name is Asuna. What's your- Wait a minute."

Asuna stopped abruptly as she leaned closer to look at me.

I tilted my head. Was there something on my face?

Asuna's eyes widened in shock as she realised something, "Wait a minute! Isn't she the girl from space?!"

"Oh you know?"

"Of course I know! Her face is on every news channel! Literally, _everyone_ has been talking about her!"

"Oh yeah that's right."

News channels. I watched one of those. I found It very strange and weird...probably because my face was on it.

"...You go away for one week and this is what happens." Asuna sighed.

"It's a _long_ story," Kirito replied.

"I can tell."

"Look, I know you aren't prepared to raise a _real_ child and I understand if you have a lot of concerns but can you please at least think about it," Kirito begged slowly.

Asuna looked at Kirito and saw how serious he was about all this, "...C-can you come here for a moment, please."

The couple moved closer together and began whispering to each other so that I couldn't hear. Although at one point, I heard Asuna raised her voice and exclaimed, "10 years!?"

But that's all I was able to pick up.

I waited patiently as they conversed. I looked at both of them. Despite the look of concern on both of them, they looked really cute together.

I assumed Kirito was explaining everything he knows about me considering Asuna looked as if she was asking a lot of questions.

Dragging my attention away from them, I stare back at the playground.

My legs began automatically walking towards it but then I realised I should probably ask for permission first.

I slowly approached Kirito and gently tugged on his shirt.

Both Kirito and Asuna looked at me.

I pointed at where I wanted to go.

For some reason, that touched Asuna, "Aww! You want to play at the playground. Of course, you can. You go play while me and Kirito talk okay." She said while rubbing my head.

Kirito gave Asuna a look.

I bowed my head saying thank you. So Asuna was really kind after all.

As I walked towards the playground, I heard Kirito say, "Asuna, there's something you need about Rin's past."

"Hmm? What is it?"

The rest of that conversation faded as I got further from them and closer to the playground. It wasn't really far away from where I was but far enough so that I couldn't hear them.

I looked around. It was quite small up close: a blue slide which was connected to a small little red and yellow fortress you could access through stairs, a sea saw and a swing.

I took off the sandals that were given to me and placed one foot into the sand. Sand, the entire playground sat on one big sandpit. Sandpits, I remember liking those.

With no explanation to tell how. I hear the giggle of a child.

I looked down beside me and I saw myself from 10 years ago.

 _Black said you were hallucinating, maybe that's what it was._

The small me smiled up at me before running into the playground.

 _Daddy! Daddy! I wanna go on the swing. Can you push me, please?_

Without even questioning the voice I was hearing in my head, I followed her to the swing.

I watched as the little girl laughed playfully as she played on the swing. Behind her, a saw a faint shadow pushing her.

 _Oooh, daddy what's that? Can I play on that?_

By the time I reached the swing, tiny me jumped off the swing and headed towards the seasaw.

The little girl rode the seasaw which was shaped as a horse.

I hear her giggle and cheer in joy, her tiny mouth forming the brightest smile.

I walked towards her as the faint shadow appeared again, this time behind the seasaw.

I reach the seasaw and the tiny version of me jumped off and head towards the small fortress, running on her own two, tiny legs.

I followed her with no motive or reason why. It was a mystery yet I didn't question any of it.

The small child climbed up the stairs and so did I.

 _Daddy look at me! I'm on the top!_

She jumped up and down, waving her arms at the faint shadow that was waiting at the bottom of the slide.

All I did was stare, intrigued at the sight. My mind wasn't blank yet nothing was going through my mind as it felt like I was mindlessly watching... a memory?

The child then laughed happily as she excitedly walked towards the slide. I followed after her.

Tiny me cheered as she went down the slide. We both slide down and landed...in the sandpit.

Lots of sand went on the child's cheek and clothes. At first she was first confused before she quickly started giggling at how much sand had gotten on her.

The child picked up sand and threw it into the air while clapping and laughing in joy. She created piles of sand, imagining that they were beautiful sandcastles. As she played, the faint shadow appeared and approached the child.

The little version of me looked up at the shadow and smiled. She picked up two balls of sands and presented it to the shadow, giggling with happiness.

 _I love you daddy._

I watched as a single tear fell from my right eye.

I felt a hand place itself on my shoulder.

I turned and saw Kirito next to me. He gently rubbed my head with a look of contempt.

No words were spoke. None were needed for this moment.

I looked back at the shadow.

The shadow bent down and gently rubbed the child's head. My dad smiled.

 _I love you too._

As hallucination faded away, rivers of tears began flowing down my face.

I cried in Kirito's arms and we stayed like that.

I miss him. I know he won't come back but I miss him. I know it's selfish of me to want to see him again but I...I want to hug him again. I know I should be grateful for all that's happened and I should focus on what's in front of me. My dad would've wanted me to move on but I can't help it...I miss him.

Still sniffling, I look over Kirito's shoulder and saw Asuna watching from a distance. Now her face showed no hesitation or doubt as if she had already made a decision. She smiled as she walked towards us.

Then, for a split second, I saw those two hooded boys who hid their faces. The one who wore _blue_ and _white_ and the scary one who wore _red_ and _black._

It was like that time when they appeared in my room but this time they were standing behind Asuna but Asuna didn't seem to notice them as she was focused on Kirito and me.

I blinked... and the two boys were gone from sight.

Suddenly, Asuna stopped walking as she received a phone call.

At first, Asuna wanted to ignore it considering the sweet moment but then her eyes widened a bit in shock when she saw who was calling her. She debated whether she should pick it up or not until Kirito insisted saying it might be important.

I let got of Kirito and looked at Asuna, wondering who was calling her.

"Hello?" Asuna said as she answered the phone.

We both watched Asuna's expressions closely. At first, Asuna was extremely calm but as seconds past, disbelief became more and more evident in her face.

"H-how is that possible?" Asuna repeated for the third time, "this better not be some sort of sick joke-"

Asuna went silent for a moment.

Kirito and I waited anxiously, wondering what type of news was able to make Asuna speechless.

After a minute, Asuna hung up and looked at Kirito.

Kirito looked back at Asuna like he already knew what it was about.

I on the other hand, looked at both of them confusingly.

* * *

We went to a place called a hospital.

It was fairly filled with people but not crowding.

We entered the lobby which consisted mostly of chairs to sit on.

There, I unexpectedly saw Sinon there along with five others who seem to be friends with Kirito and Asuna.

"Oh hey Rin, looks like we meet again sooner than we both thought." Sinon greeted.

I nodded and waved back, happy to see a familiar face again, even though I just said goodbye to her not long ago.

"Klein! Everyone! You all made it." Kirito said facing his group of friends.

The man that Kirito referred to as Klein, waved back, "Of course we made it! We would be jerks if we didn't."

"Welcome back Kirito, I see the whole controversy about an alien invasion was all just a false alarm huh?" Another man greeted Kirito. He was bald, had black skin and was really tall.

Besides those two, the rest of the group were female and pretty much all of them were really glad to see Kirito again and they each gave their own distinct greeting. Of course, Kirito was equally glad to see each one of them.

There were fours of them excluding Sinon.

The first girl had brown hair and acted playfully disappointed, "Aww, I was kinda hoping to see you verse a real life alien."

"Well at least it's not the end of the world like a lot of people were saying in the past couple of days." A smaller girl, with light brown hair and her hair tied into two tails, said before greeting Kirito politely, "Nice to see again, Kirito."

"Hey Oni-chan, we all got your call," a girl with...said straight after the smaller girl's greeting, "is it really true?"

Kirito nodded, "That's what the doctor told Asuna over the phone. Although I'm not sure how it ha-"

"Papa!" The last girl, who was even shorter than me, ran to Kirito and hugged him, "Welcome back Papa!"

Kirito smiled in response and patted the girl on the head, "Nice to see you too Yui."

I continued to hide behind Kirito as he conversed with his friends.

Out of all the things they said in their conversation, one word caught my attention which was what that girl named Yui said.

Papa? As in...dad? Is papa another word for dad? If so, it does explain the interaction between that girl and Kirito. Wait so, that girl is Kirito's-

Faint whispers of gossip interrupted my train of thought. I looked around and noticed that everyone single person who was waiting in the lobby with us were staring at us.

I even saw one male stranger staring at Kirito with a look of jealousy.

It was hard to tell whether Kirito just didn't notice or was trying to ignore them.

How is it that everyone here seems to know who Kirito and his friends are despite being total strangers? They all seem to recognize Kirito but why?

"Oh, I almost forgot to introduce you all to someone."

As if Kirito's words was like his cue, I brought my focus back to my conversation, preparing myself.

Kirito stepped to the side and gestured his hand towards to me, "Everyone, this is Rin."

All eyes fell on me after that. I cling to Kirito's arm.

It didn't take long before they all recognized me.

"Wait, isn't she the girl from space?!" The girl who called Kirito 'oni-chan' earlier explained in shock.

Klein walked closer to me and looked at me with interest, "Whoa, she really is like a regular human- Wait a minute, why is she here? I thought they were-"

"They left her in Kirito's care for the time being until he and Asuna make an official decision." Sinon replied before Kirito could.

"Seriously?!" Klein exclaimed in shock before getting really frustrated, "Darn it Kirito, why do you always end up with all the cute ones."

That earned a punch from one of the girls.

"Rin," Kirito then turned his head to me as he introduced each one of his friends, "This is Yui, Suguha, Rika, Keiko, Andrew and Ryōtarō."

"Nah, just call me Klein, it's much easier."

"Nice to meet you Rin, I usually go by Agil."

"My friends call me Silica, pleasure meeting you." The girl bowed her head politely.

"Feel free to just call me Leafa, it's what everyone calls me nowadays."

"And you can call me Lisbeth." The girl who punched Klein earlier said.

" **And we're the Cast of SAO**." Klein declared proudly while punching his chest.

I stared in awe at all of them. So all of them are Kirito's friends. Well, I guess I should've expected someone like Kirito to have lots of friends.

"Klein, she doesn't know SAO is." Sinon quickly corrected.

"Shoot I fotgot about that."

I bowed my head shyly which turned I was still not used to meeting this many people all at once. I made sure to remember each one of their names.

Noticing my shyness, Yui approached and looked at me for a moment before offering her hand to me, "Hello Rin, I hope we can get along."

Seeing that welcoming smile calmed my nerves.

I nodded with a smile before shaking her hand. It was quite strange, Yui looked much younger than me yet she seemed so much more mature.

Kirito smiled with relief before turning to face all his friends, "I want to thank all of you for coming here on such short notice, I know all of you had things to do but-"

"Don't sweat it, pal," Klein interrupted as he patted Kirito on the shoulder, "with an event like this, we'll cancel our _entire_ timetable with no hesitation."

"Thanks guys," Kirito thanked in gratitude before asking, "Can you take care of Rin for a moment, Asuna and I just need to be-"

"Sure, sure, just go already, if what the doctor said is true then _she's_ probably already there waiting for you." Leafa insisted.

After confirming it with his friends and promising me that he won't be gone for long, Kirito walked over to Asuna who was chatting with one of the nurses.

The couple then enters through a pair of doors where they exited from my line of vision.

* * *

Kirito and Asuna were guided into another hallway which had doors on both sides that led to a patient's room.

There were a few people. Both doctors and visitors walked left and right but the couple spotted _her_ as soon as they entered.

From a distance, they saw her. A girl sitting on a chair, waiting patiently in the middle of the hallway.

It was a sight to admire as this was the very first time Asuna ever saw this girl out of bed.

The girl noticed Kirito and Asuna. She instantly got up and ran towards them, showing the brightest smile that Asuna ever saw this girl show.

Asuna placed her hand over her mouth as she fell to her knees.

The girl threw herself on Asuna. The two girls hugged each other with tears of utter happiness.

Kirito smiled as he bent down and placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulders.

They didn't believe it when they first heard it but seeing her now in this state was like looking at a living miracle.

* * *

"Hey Rin, you want to see something cool?" Silica asked.

I nodded with curious eyes.

From under her sleeve, I was shocked to see that Silica also had one of those transparent bracelets that Kirito had.

She tapped it and instantly thousands of pixels appeared around Silica's shoulder to create this adorable blue creature with wings.

I stared at the creature with complete awe.

"Her name is Pina." Silica introduced. She touched something on her bracelet and the creature suddenly jumped and rested in my lap.

"Aww, she likes you," Silica said cheerfully before insisting, "go ahead, pat her, don't worry she doesn't bite."

I looked down at the cute creature and gently rubbed its head. It seemed really happy and responded by flying onto my shoulder. It rubbed its tiny head against my neck which tickled a bit.

As I played with it, I saw something familiar out of the corner of my eye.

On Silica's bracelet screen where the picture of Pina was drawn, two familiar words appeared above it.

 **Biotic Programming.**

I remember those two words. I still don't know it means but back in my world, I used that to control the creatures I created. However, the way Silica used it was much more advanced. As in, I only used loops to make my creatures move but just from looking, I could tell the settings that Silica had installed into Pina were much more complicated than simple loops.

"Kirito told us about your father..." Yui suddenly spoke out of nowhere.

I looked away from Pina and at Yui who sat next to me.

Kirito told them?... Already? Kirito must really trust these people.

"Don't worry, Kirito didn't tell us anything personal...but he did make it clear that it was her father who originally invented the FRF," Yui said with a smile of gratitude, "...I'm glad. I've always wanted to thank the original inventor."

"Same here," Silica agreed as Pina jumped back onto her shoulder, "I think all of us here feel the same way."

I looked up at Sinon and the others. They were all looking at me with a look of gratitude, just like Yui. Although out of all of them, Yui seemed the most grateful.

"Tell the father I said thanks okay?" Yui continued as she stood up to bow her head, expressing her genuine thanks, "After all, it's because of your father's creation... _that I can stand here in the real world."_

Everyone around me had a transparent bracelet on their wrist...everyone except for Yui.

* * *

Kirito gave them space.

While he was on very good terms with the girl, it was Asuna who really made a close bond with her.

He remembered the time when Asuna first met _her_. For weeks, _she_ was all Asuna talked about whenever they got together.

As soon as the tears of joy were finished, the two talked. They talked about a lot of things: what the other did during the past month, new likes and dislikes and even what they were going to do after this. Basically, they talked until they had caught up with each other.

It's been quite a while since Kirito had seen any of those girls this happy that he couldn't help but catch their happiness. But despite that, a concerning question disturbed him: He was glad that the girl's sickness was in complete remission but this girl has been bedridden for most of her entire life...so how is she about to walk so casually?

Someone from behind tapped Kirto on the shoulder, interrupting his thoughts.

Kirito turned around and saw someone he didn't expect to meet so soon.

"We need to talk."

Meanwhile, after finishing one of their many conversations, Asuna remembered something which caught the girl's curiosity.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Come on, let's go. everyone's waiting for you." Asuna said, offering the girl her hand.

The girl tilted her head a bit but took Asuna's hand nonetheless, "Who?"

Asuna smiled as she placed her forefinger on her lips, only giving the girl a bright yet cheeky smile, "It's a surprise."

* * *

The doors opened and Asuna came back with another girl.

The girl had black-brown hair and I couldn't tell whether she was taller or shorter than me from the distance I saw her but she was shorter than Asuna. Her skin was strangely a bit pale which would've made her look really sick if it weren't for the bright smile she had when she spotted Sinon and the others.

The girl softly squealed in excitement when she saw our group.

Klein was the first to react as he waved, "Oh Hey! Nice to meet you, we heard you're a big fan of SAO so here we are."

Elizabeth looked at Klein, "I'm sorry was that meant to sound cool."

"Greetings, congratulations on your recovery." Agil greeted respectfully.

"Nice to meet you." Sinon waved.

Everyone crowded around the girl so I wasn't able to get a good view of the girl's face.

I watched from a distance, letting the group have their conversation. They were all happy, especially the girl. I didn't catch her name but I could always ask later.

Leafa, Silica and everyone else had their chance to have a little talk with her. All I could hear from them was the cheerful chatter of the joyful conversing that mixed everyone's voices together into a sound of delight.

It wasn't long till everyone began giving her their own small presents that they had quickly brought before coming here. The person receiving them seemed to love every single one of them despite how small they were. To add onto that, the girl also asked for their signatures which everyone was more than happy to give. That reminded me, I too should probably ask for their autographs but I guess I can do that later.

It seems like I'm not the only one who likes to collect them huh?

I caught a glimpse of Asuna who stood next to the girl. She looked so overjoyed and peaceful.

The group continued to enjoy the girl's company.

I heard them laugh. I heard them cheer. I even heard some make jokes.

For that moment... everyone had completely forgotten about me. Of course, I didn't mind at the slightest in fact...for the first time in my life, I felt... happier being the watcher.

It was like this was the perfect moment of joy for them. A moment that I didn't want to interrupt or even ruin so I stayed back. It would probably be a bit selfish of me to ask for their attention now.

I didn't know what was happening or who she was, but Asuna looked really glad so she must be a close friend.

Friends. I know exactly what it feels like. It's only been a few days since that day yet I feel like I've been blessed to meet all these different people: Shinoa, Yu, Yuri, Kanade, Hange, Sinon, Guren, Asuna, Black and of course, Kirito...speaking of Kirito, where is he?

I looked around and just as I thought, Kirito was nowhere to be found.

I searched around the room wondering if I missed him. I didn't find him although I did end up spotting something else that caught my attention.

Nervously approaching the group, was a man who I assumed was one of the doctors that Yui told me about. I was told that doctors and nurses worked at a hospital which is why I saw them almost everywhere.

However, this doctor looked anxious and his face was full of just pure guilt.

* * *

"Well?" Kirito leaned against the wall as he looked at Hange, "What's the matter?"

The two were in a separate small room along with one security guard who sat at a small table which had a keyboard on it.

On the wall were security monitors that showed different areas of the hospital.

"Before I get into that, may I ask you a question?" Hange asked leaning on the wall that was opposite to Kirito.

"I don't see why not," Kirito replied, very concerned about how the scientists were talking.

"Why did you part take in the expedition to the site where Rin's ship crashed landed?" Hange asked, getting straight to the point.

Kirito was ready for many questions. However, this question, to him was quite strange especially since it was Hange of all people asking him.

"What do you mean?"

"I looked back at the preparations and past orders. I found out how the crew of the scout mission was chosen. As you know, some thought an unknown hostile entity had entered our atmosphere so extra precautions were taken hence the ship was carefully armed with both weapons and a heavily trained crew of _Method Actors_. Kotori was placed in charge of the ship, Sinon was chosen to observe and provide support from a distance and Yuri because of her ability to make quick decisions in any situation. The rest were chosen in case the crew would be forced to engage in battle. Kanade would act as the defensive tank, Yuichiro as the striker due to his sword skills and of course, Black Rock Shooter was chosen purely for assurance to make sure the mission went smoothly as she possesses immense strength and skill in both close and long range combat. She's arguably one of the strongest Life-Action Method Actors out there. With that said, it didn't say anywhere about why any of your skills were needed. In fact, I doubt you were even chosen... So why did you come?"

At first, Kirito didn't see what made this question a big deal, "Isn't it obvious? No matter how strong, a team always needs a leader to..."

Kirito froze dead in his tracks, his eyes wide open. It seemed he finally saw the whole picture that Hange tried to show him.

"A leader..." Kirito repeated as he remembered something that he noticed when he was on the ship.

(FLASHBACK: CHapter 3)

"What should we do, leader?" Yu asked Kirito.

"I thought I was supposed to be the leader." Shinoa's comment was ignored.

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

Hange hummed softly when she saw Kirito had finally understood the strange mystery behind her question, "Shinoa may act immature at times but she's more than capable of leading a team, in fact, she has a lot more experience than you when it comes to leadership. No offense, but... you really weren't needed for this scout mission at all besides more manpower."

"But that doesn't make sense. If I wasn't needed, why did I receive direct orders to-"

"Question, do you know who exactly sent you that order?" Hange interrupted before Kirito could finish that statement.

Kirito paused to think about the answer. He was used to receiving orders from a lot of people of high authority so he never really gave it any thought. He carefully remembered the email he was sent, "...I'm not sure. It just said it was an order from HQ."

Hange placed her hand beneath her chin as if she was looking at a messed up jigsaw, desperately trying to see whether the pieces she had connected or not, "Hmm...it seems we've been played."

"Huh?"

"Rin's arrival and Ms. Konno's sudden recovery. Considering your connection with Ms Konno and the fact that you had just decided to take Rin under your wing. I found the timing of these two major events to be a bit too coincidental, so I took a closer look and what I found was certainly unexpected."

"What did you find?"

Hange gave her answer in the form of an image.

The image was a picture of a scan showing someone's heart. In the center of the heart was a tiny glowing object.

Kirito couldn't help but let out a silent gasp as if something had gotten stuck in his throat, "That's-"

"Rin's healer. It was spotted in Ms. Konno's heart around the time it disappeared from Rin's heart," Hange interrupted before chuckling, "it seems I've once underestimated the technology of Rin's father. To think he had created something capable of curing AIDS. A disease that was determined to have no cure despite our advanced technology."

"But how did it get from Rin's heart to Yu-"

Once again, Hange interrupted as she already an answer for that, "Someone stole it and implanted it into her."

"Huh?"

"On certain dates, including last night around the time Rin's Healer disappeared. This was spotted on the cameras." Hange looked over to the security guard and gave him a nod.

The guard nodded back before typing a few keys on his keyboard.

All the other monitors were replaced with one large holographic screen which showed past video footage of Ms Konno's room.

Kirito looked and what he saw horrified him. Right next to the bed where Ms Konnon slept, there was a hooded boy who wore the colours _blue_ and _white._ The boy stood there silently staring down at the sleeping girl.

"Who is he?"

"We don't know. He always appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared before we can catch him," Hange replied before laying out details, "but what we do know is that he began appearing around the time of Rin's arrival... This is where it's gets strange, ever since then, the boy has appeared four times in this room but hardly did anything besides staring. Each time, they checked on Ms Konno herself to see if the hooded figure had done anything to her but we didn't find anything out of the ordinary except..."

She paused, trying to find words to explain.

"Except what?"

"...According to Doctor Kurahashi, the morning after each time this hooded boy appeared, Ms Konno would always talk about this dream she had... a dream where she met a _mysterious girl with red hair and eyes... A girl who could create anything she drew with her tablet."_

Kirito looked in utter bewilderment and surprise, "You mean-"

"Apparently on the fourth day, which was last night, Ms Konno...made a promise with this girl." Hange finished.

Kirito suddenly had a major flashback to the time when Rin was interrogated by Guren.

(FLASHBACK)

"A promise? When did you make this prom- No, let me rephrase that... _when was the last time you met this girl?"_

Rin picked up the drawing tablet and with the black stylus, she simply wrote the words 'last night' on it.

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

"In an addition to that, the hooded boy made a move on the fourth day," Hange added before giving the security another nod.

After a few typing, another holographic video went up on the wall.

-0-0-

The camera aimlessly watched the room.

The camera scanned, as it's head slowly moved left to right, right to left. However it's the main point of focus was the girl who was settled on a full hospital bed, right in the middle of the room. Connected to the girl, was a white, cube-shaped helmet which almost covered the girl's entire head leaving only the lips and chin exposed.

A monitor was embedded in the side of the machine which indicated the girl's vital signs which seemed stable at the moment and gray wires were attached to the girl's arm.

The girl wasn't online nor was she contemplating. Instead, she was just lying there...sleeping. Whatever she was dreaming about remained a cryptic mystery.

All ceiling lights in the room were off and no other nurses or doctors were in sight.

The only source of light came from the machine that the girl was connected to.

Then, meaterailsing out of nothing, a hooded boy wearing a blue and white coat emerged from the ground.

The boy's face was hidden but it was clear that he was staring straight at the girl.

Strangely, the camera didn't react despite having a motion detector attached to it.

The boy approached the bed and pulled out a tiny glowing object. Raising his arm, the boy magically inserted the small glowing object into the girl's heart.

After a moment, the boy turned and stared at the camera.

The camera suddenly had a strange malfunction and its screen went extremely static.

By the time, the camera fixed itself...the boy was gone.

-0-0-

Kirito stared at the video, completely speechless.

"If Rin and Ms. Konno are connected then his the one who probably sent you that fake order. We may not know exactly what his true motives are, but it seems he wanted you, Ms. Konno and Rin to end up together. If you think about it... it's almost like his giving Rin a new family."

"Family? What makes you think that?" Kirito asked.

"As you know, after Ms. Konno has no relatives, so after this, she'll have nowhere to go. I'm sure Asuna won't hesitate to take her in considering the deep bound of friendship they already have and if you two do decide to adopt Rin... that technically _makes them sisters_. Those two make such a perfect pair that I doubt it's a coincidence. Both of them have spent most of their lives in the digital world and will now have to get used to the real world. And of course, there's you, who share very similar facial features to Rin's real father. Combine that with the welcoming gesture you treated Rin with, I wasn't actually surprised to see Rin grew close to you. Whoever that hooded boy was, he must've planned all of this."

"Is... Is he even human?"

"...I don't know."

"But wait, if all this hooded boy wanted was to give Rin a family...then doesn't that make him a good person?" Kirito asked, "If his willing to go that far for Rin, he must really care for her... whoever he is."

"That's exactly what I thought at first..." Hange face suddenly went down and Kirito quickly caught on the mood, "that is until I was told about what happened to Mrs. Konno's sister, Aiko."

Kirito's eyes widened as he stared directly at Hange.

Looking at her expression, Kirito was almost afraid to ask, "...What about Aiko?"

Now it was Hange's turn to be surprised, "Has Doctor Kurahashi not told you yet?...then again I can't blame him, it's one thing to deliver bad news. But it's whole nother story when one has to deliver both the best and worst news ever."

* * *

"What's wrong doctor?" I heard the girl asked with concern.

That voice.

The group finally noticed the doctor and faced him.

As the numbers of eyes looking at him increased, so did his guilt, "I-I'm so sorry. Asuna, Konno, I should've told you all earlier. I just didn't know what order to tell you. I-I planned to tell you all earlier but you looked so happy that I...I..."

"Doctor, it's okay, slow down," I heard the girl's voice again, "tell us what happened."

That voice. I've heard that voice before.

I stood up. Without even thinking it through, my legs moved by myself and slowly their way towards her.

"No, it's not okay, I'm so sorry...I should've told you sooner...Konno, it pains me to be the one to tell you this but..."

I know I said I wouldn't interrupt their moment but...that voice. I need to see the face of that voice. I just really needed to know. To know whether it was _her_ or not.

"Last night your...your..."

Is it really... her? I take a few more steps forward and-

"Your sister passed away."

My legs froze.

The atmosphere had changed drastically.

From where I stood, I only saw the doctor's face and everyone's back as they all stared at the doctor with wide eyes except.

All I saw was the girl's back...as she fell to her knees.

What used to be the happiest moment had somehow changed by those four simple words.

* * *

"What?!" Kirito exclaimed, not believing what Hange had just said, "H-how it did that happen?"

"Apparently her condition deteriorated last night to a critical condition-"

"That can't be it. She still should've survived!" Kirito interrupted, "The technology we have is more than enough to keep AIDS patients stable. They said Aiko was guaranteed to have decades of life still left...so how did she..."

Hange said nothing at first to let Kirito collect his thoughts and calm down.

"I'll tell you... but you have to promise me not to tell her about this." Hange finally said.

Kirito looked at Hange straight in the eye but said nothing.

Hange took in a deep breath before explaining, "Last night, around the same time that hooded boy appeared, another hooded figure appeared in Aiko's room."

The security guard brought up the video footage of Aiko's room from last night.

Kirito watched in horror. Standing next to Aiko's bed was a boy who wore a hood that was identical to the other boy but he wore the colours _red_ and _black._ Another distinct feature was the creepy smile that the boy held. A smile that sent shivers down Kirito. Similiar to the other boy, he appeared out of nowhere. Kirito watched the footage as the culprit touched the Medicuboid that the sleeping Aiko was attached to before disappearing.

"We've declared him to be the culprit of all this. We still don't know how but he did it but somehow he intentionally caused a malfunction to the Medicuboid with a temporary virus, therefore...murdering Aiko. Usually, they have staff members on standby to deal with emergency viruses or malfunctions but _he_ must've shut off the alarms so no one knew a thing until the morning... She died in her sleep, alone."

Kirito went silent as he just stared at the image of the hooded boy who wore red and black.

"Now do you see why I don't want you to tell her, with Aiko gone she's lost _all_ her family. The last thing that poor girl needs to know is that her sister was murdered. Who knows how she'll react."

"Why aren't we doing anything about this?!" Kirito exclaimed, his anger growing a bit, "There's a murderer on the loose who possibly might even target _her_ next."

"Kirito, slow down. Believe me, if we could start a search for them, we would but we know NOThING about these two boys. They hid their faces so we have no facial recognition and their attires has never been seen anywhere on this planet. We don't even know if they're human. Whoever or whatever they are, they left no clues behind, not even fingerprints. The most we can do is report this video footage to the authorities and hope they appear again. There's too little information to start a full search. For all we know, they might've come to our planet with Rin's ship."

Kirito had no reply to that. He felt utterly helpless as he clenched his fist. He turned and looked at the image of Aiko sleeping peacefully in her bed.

"I'm sorry Kirito... but there's nothing we can do now."

* * *

We went to a place called a graveyard.

It was quiet and the atmosphere felt extremely sad even though I barely knew what had happened. Everything until now had been so happy and perfect that this felt completly heartbreaking.

Kirito and Asuna haven't said anything to me since then. Barely anyone has. They weren't ignoring me, they just seemed too...shaken to talk. I made sure not to disturb them either. I may not know how things work in this world but I knew how to read the mood when there's one. So I silently did what I was told and stood there obediently.

In a way, I wanted them to feel better. I wanted to help them...but how can I do that if I don't even know what they're sad about. I feel like I'll just make it worse. I did try to cheer up Kirito once but he just looked at me with a sad expression which felt like reality had just pierced me in the heart. I pretty much gave up after that.

In total, there were ten of us including me. Kirito, Asuna, Sinon and all the others sat at the front while I chose to sit in the back as I didn't want to appear as a distraction to the others.

The girl stood up at the very front, watching as they buried the coffin.

The burial used no signs of any technology. They even used these tools called shovels. Compared to what I saw in the city, this graveyard was more green and somehow traditional.

Nothing could be heard besides the shovels digging dirt and throwing it in the hole where the coffin was placed. Each second flew by with utter sorrow in each grasp making them feel like years.

Once the burial was finished, the girl spoke with eyes still glued to the gravestone, "You know...My sister and I always knew this was going to happen. The doctors said we had plenty of time left but we just had that feeling you know. So we made sure to tell each other 'I love you' each time we said goodbye online...I'm glad we did that..."

That voice. It was a voice that was trying to stay strong while covering all the sorrow.

"I may not have been able to properly say goodbye or be by my sister's side during her last moments but I...I...they say she died peacefully so... I'm glad about that too..."

That voice. Her voice struggled to form words as if she had lost something really important to her.

"My sister always protected me. She was always looking for out like a shield, willing to make sacrifices for me while never caring about her own condition. She was also very decisive, I barely saw her brood anything especially when we played online games together," she let out a very dry chuckle, "Not to boast but...but she was the best sister anyone...anyone could have...and I'm glad to be her sister."

That voice... Sounded so familiar. I tried to look but the girl refused to look away from the gravestone which had the words 'here lies Konno Aiko, beloved sister" on it. '

Asuna and Kirito stood right behind the girl, doing their best to comfort her although they themselves looked just as mournful as the girl. Everyone else stayed silent, giving them space.

Asuna was already crying at this point, "I'm so sorry."

"Please don't apologise Asuna," the girl replied politely despite her emotional state, "you and Kirito have already done so much to help me and my sister. I wouldn't want to burden you more by having you take responsibility for...for something like this."

Kirito came closer and placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, "...It's fine to cry every now and then."

The girl tensed. The pillars that were holding all her emotions were slowly crumbling away.

"It's okay...you can let it all out if you want."

A single tear fell from the girl's eye, "I...I overheard a conversation from the nurses..."

A part of Kirito looked shocked as if he already knew what the girl was going to say.

"Apparently my sister died at the exact moment I was cured...it's a weird coincidence, isn't it? We both had the exact same disease yet she was the one who..." she hesitated for a moment, another tear fell as her arms began to shake, "Hey Kirito can I...ask you a question?"

The girl finally looked away from the gravestone. She turned around and for the first time, I saw her face. I had never seen a face so full of utter sorrow.

"Did my sister die...because of me?"

Kirito couldn't say anything as he had no answer.

Asuna placed her hand over her mouth, shaking her head, "No, no, no of course not. Don't say that."

Asuna came closer and embraced the girl. They both fell to their knees.

It was at that moment, the girl finally broke into a river of tears.

"I miss her Asuna. I miss her so much."

All Asuna could do was cry with her, "I know. I miss her too."

Kirito bent down to their level and placed his hands on their shoulders, saying nothing.

I watched her cry from the back.

That face. It's... _her._ Her hair is shorter and a diffrent colour but that's her no doubt:

 _"Hello there, sorry if I scared you."_

 _"Whoa! That's amazing! So you can create anything you want with that tablet?"_

 _"Wow! Your very creative. It looks amazing!"_

 _"Oh hi there! After the third time, I was wondering when I was going to see you again."_

 _"...So when that does happen. If we do meet again in the future...we'll tell each other our names, okay?"_

 _..._

Seeing her crying now, created a new feeling in me.

A feeling that felt new yet felt familiar.

Is this...pain?

This is pain? It feels completely different from last time. My body feels fine yet... why does it hurt equally as much?

 _"you will experience unbearable pain both physically...and mentally."_

It was as if I was experiencing the girl's pain secondhand just by seeing her cry.

This pain. I've... felt this pain before.

It wasn't during that time when I fell from the bed to the ground. No...this feeling is...

Seeing her cry. Seeing all those tears falling down her checks.

I may not know what had happened to her yet seeing those tears only made me feel more for her.

This feeling it's...

 _It's the pain of losing someone dear to you._

* * *

It was silent in the car.

The mood was completely different from when it was just me and Kirito.

Kirito and Asuna sat in the front while I sat in the back with _her._

The others that I met: Sinon, Klein, Agil, Elizabeth, Silica, and Leafa. All of them had urgent matters to attend to however they didn't leave without saying their respectful goodbyes to the girl. As for Yui, I'm not sure when but she disappeared so I'm not sure where she is.

They all said bye to me of course, it wasn't like they had forgotten about me. Their minds were just more concerned about the burial. I don't blame them though... someone did just pass away after all.

I threw a quick glance at her.

She was leaning her head against the window, her eyes staring at nothing. Her eyes were still wet and a bit red from crying. She face looked emotionally drained as all I could hear was her silent sniffles. Out of everyone, it was her who looked the most heartbroken.

So she really did lose someone dear to her.

I looked down at the palm of my hand. The pain in my heart increased as all I could think of was my dad. Is the girl also experincng this pain?

I...I wanted to do something about this. Something to help her ease the pain. But what can I do? What would my comfort mean to her? We barely know each other. Were just strangers for all we know... what's my contribution going to do?

I felt helpless. I felt guilty that I could do nothing. Is there really nothing I can do? But I feel like if I don't do anything, things will just get worse. Even Asuna and Kirito, who are good friends with her, couldn't make her smile. How am I suppose to help?

...

I wish my dad was here... he would probably know what to do.

My head suddenly went blank as I remembered...

...

My Dad.

...

What would he do?

 _(FLASHBACK)_

"Hey Rin?"

The tiny me looked up at my dad as I sat on his lap.

"What I'm about to say might sound weird but listen okay?"

I nodded, curious about what he wanted to say.

 _"...I'll never find the right way to tell..."_ he gently rubbed my head as he said these words into my ears, _"Have you have noticed I've been gone?"_

I shook my head. I looked back at him with eyes that asked him why would ask a question like that.

He gave me a warm smiled, _"Cause I_ _left behind the home you made me... But I will carry it along."_

 _(FLASHBACK ENDS)_

With those words echoing in my head.

I slowly turned and looked over at the girl.

Without thinking twice, my arm began moving towards her.

 _(FLASHBACK)_

 _"When I'm older, I know that I'll be silent beside you. And the words won't be enough. And you will need the know the inside of our faces... and they will carry on for us."_

 _(FLASHBACK ENDS)_

I leaned it closer, placing my hand on her shoulder.

 _It's a long way forward,_

The girl tensed but I didn't let go of her.

 _So trust in me._

She slowly turned her head to look at me.

 _I_ ' _ll give her shelter like you've done for me and I know, I'm not alone,_

Our eyes finally met and I opened my mouth to speak.

 _You'll be watching over us...until...you're gone._

 _..._

"R...R-Ri..." Tears began flowing down my eyes as the girl recognised me, it was hard by I kept going, "M-my...my name is...is..."

As my voice struggled, Asuna and Kirito looked back at me in shock.

"R-Rin. My name is Rin."

More tears flowed down my cheeks. The girl stared at me speechless for a second before smiling sadly at me, letting out a dry painful chuckle, "Why are you crying? Is something wrong-"

She stopped as I stared straight at her. Even I didn't know where all these tears came from but I didn't look away.

"Oh, I see. You've also lost someone huh?" the girl's smile faded as she held her shaking arm, "...It hurts, doesn't it? No matter how much you wish for it, they never come back...But I guess we just have to move on don't we..."

Not able to handle it anymore, I threw myself and hugged her.

She wasn't shocked like last time. She gladly returned the hug and rubbed my head gently, not saying anything.

After a few moments, she too began to cry once more. She returned the hug, seeking her own comfort.

The hug felt gentle and warm.

Asuna and Kirito remained silent as we cried together in each other arms.

We cried for who knows how long.

All outside noises were drowned by the sound of our tears.

For a brief minute, all thoughts and worries were cleared up.

Time flew by like the wind. Before we knew it, we had slowly calmed down and everything felt very peaceful as if all sorrow had dried away with our tears...it was just like last time.

After gently letting go, I sat back in my seat and watched as the girl closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

For a split second, I saw a faint glow in the girl's heart.

She opened her eyes and looked straight at me, offering her hand to me for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you Rin. My name is Yuuki. Konno Yuuki."

* * *

 _And that's how I left the shelter he built for me. I did have my doubts but I know that's what he would've wanted._

 _I may not know anything about this world that I'm about to set foot in or what exactly what I want to do with my life. But... if there's one thing I know, it's that I can walk forward with the assurance of other's comfort because I knew that m_ _eeting Yuuki and shaking hands with her..._

 _Was just the beginning...of a new life._

* * *

...

...

...

* * *

Early in the morning, In one of the many Gun Gale Online servers.

A small pink player by the name of Llenn was distracting a giant scorpion creature with her swift speed while firing at it with her P-90.

Lienn stopped when she was in the right spot, "Pitohui!"

Another player appeared and jumped above the scorpion.

Before the scorpion could make a move, Pitohui drew out her lightsaber and sliced it in half.

The monster's HP bar hit zero and it dispersed into thousands of animated pixels until it disappeared.

Pitohui sighed in delight as if that was just the warm-up, "Nice work Lienn, man we make a ."

"Are you fired up now?" Lienn asked as she looked at the time.

"Hmm...Maybe one more will-"

"NO!" Lienn interrupted, "You promised we would go after one run."

Pitohui scratched her head, "Did I?"

"Yes! Now, I'm going to log out now and I expect to _**see you there**..._ Okay?"

"Fine." Pitohui groaned.

"Good. See you there." With that, Lienn opened her game menu and logged out the server.

After she left, a creepy smile appeared on Pitohui face, "I'm sure getting a few PKs before leaving won't hurt."

* * *

...

...

...

* * *

In someone's garage, chords and speakers were set all over the place.

A pink haired girl was jamming it out with an electric guitar while singing into a mic. The song she was singing was one of 'Girl's Dead Monster' new songs.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door which had an Angel Beats poster on it.

"Yui! It's time for you go!"

Yui looked at the time before yelling, "COMING!"

The pink haired girl hastily began packing up her instruments before dashing out of the garage.

While listening to one of Masami Iwasawa's new songs in one ear, she jumped into the car.

"You ready?"

Yui nodded with determination, "Hai!"

* * *

...

...

* * *

In a small room, a girl slept soundly in her bed.

That is until her phone began ringing.

The girl woke up abruptly and searched for her phone.

Once she saw who was calling her, she answered it, "Hey Yomi. What's up?"

"Hello Mato, I was just wondering...where are you? Were going to late at this rate?"

Mato yawned, "Late? What are you talking about? It's a Saturday, we don't have school on-"

The girl froze and for a moment her heart stopped.

On the other side of the phone, Yomi sighed, "Don't tell me you were playing that Black Rock Shooter game all night...Mato? Mato are you there?"

By then, Mato had already dropped her phone as she screamed, "OH SHOOT! I'M GOING TO BE LATE!"

* * *

...

...

* * *

Meanwhile, in a conference room.

"So...you want this music video to be based on a true story?"

"Yes...is there a problem with that?"

"No, of course not, I'm sure there's a good story somewhere out there. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"It's nothing to worry about, I was just thinking about how your fans are going to react to this. Y _ou are_ collaborating with Crunchyroll and A1 Pictures after all."

"You think it's strange?"

"No of course not, in fact, I think this shows a lot of potential."

* * *

...

* * *

"Hey Rin? Do you have a dream you want to achieve."

I shook my head.

"That's alright, I'm sure you'll find one."

How about you?

Yuuki chuckled gently, "Me? Oh, mines a bit crazy."

What is it?

She smiled, "Well if you really want to know I'll tell you...You see ever since I met Asuna, there was always this one thing I wanted to do. Something I couldn't do when I was in the hospital..."

I listened carefully, my curisoity growing more than ever.

"My dream is to work by Asuna's side _...and be part of SAO franchise."_

* * *

 **A/N End. I do hope you guys aren't disappointed with how the story of this fanfic turned out to be. I do hope you don't think the plot is strange especially for a franchise like a shelter and SAO. However, this was the plot I had already planned since first writing this.**

 **And that will be it for this arch. I've decided that this will be a full-length series with at least over 10 chapters. There's** **definitely** **going be more since Yuuki barely got any screen time. But for now, this story is on** hiatus **until I finish the other Fanfic that I'm writing which is Strangers In Remnant. I'll be focused on that now and will probably take a long time to finish so yeah. I'm really sorry to leave you with a couple of mini-cliffhangers but that's what I have decided. I will be returning to this series, one way or another.**

 **Now there may have plot holes in this so if you do have anything to ask, I might not be able to answer in a while unless you Private Message me. Hopefully this chapter does answer some of your questions although I feel like I just left you with even more.**

 **Anyways, Thank you so much for reading this and if you still remember this story when I come back to this fic then I salute you because it's going to be a long time till I update this story again.**

 **With that said, thank you so much and ah yeah...bye.**

* * *

"Where am I?"

I shrugged.

What happened to you?

She had to think about that for a moment, "Hmm...I think I died."

I titled my head, wondering what he meant by that.

"Oh well," She turned around and faced me, offering her hand, "Hello friend, nice to meet you, my name is Aiko. Konno Aiko."

I opened my mouth as a response as I stared wide-eyed.

She smiled at me, "What's your name?"

* * *

 **This chapter was finished on 24/08/2018**


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